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PROF.  T.  W.  SHANNON, 


PERFECT  MANHOOD 

How  Inherited,  Attained  and  Maintained 
How  Wrecked  and  Regained. 

REVISED  EDITION. 

100,000  SOLD. 

By 

Prof.  T.  W.  SHANNON,  A.  M. 

Author  of  “Perfect  Manhood;”  “Perfect  Boyhood;”  “The 
Twentieth  Century  Boy;”  “Parents  and  Child  or 
Heredity;”  “Guide  to  Sex  Instruction;”  “The 
Girl  and  Her  Mother;”  “Sour  Grapes; 

“How  to  Tell  the  Story  of  Life,”  etc. 


\ 


Paper,  25  cents;  cloth,  50c. 


T.  W.  SHANNON  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 

211  West  Walnut  Street,  Louisville,  Ky, 


Copyrighted  1911 
By  the  Author . 


ZoiAa1! 

Sh !  p 

)Vl 

PREFACE  TO  THE  REVISED  EDITION. 


$ 


Perfect  Manhood  was  tihe  result  of  the  authors 
first  attempt  to  write  a  book.  Scores  of  men  had 
plead  with  him  for  years  to  put  his  lectures  in  book 
form  with  a  view  to  extending  their  usefulness.  It 
was  hurriedly  written  and  consisted  of  paragraphs 
from  his  lectures.  This  gave  the  book  a  rather 
awkward  appearance. 

To  the  very  great  surprise  of  the  author  the 
book  has  had  a  most  phenomenal  sale  throughout 
the  U.  S.  and  Canada  and  in  a  limited  way  to 
nearly  every  English-speaking  country.  The  writ¬ 
ing  of  several  other  books,  constant  lecturing,  pri¬ 
vate  consultation  with  thousands  of  young  men, 
.extensive  correspondence  with  young  men  who  have 
read  Perfect  Manhood,  and  a  more  extensive  ready¬ 
ing  of  the  newest  and  best  book  on  sexual  science 
has  led  the  author  to  see  the  need  of  some  changes 
and  additions. 

Believing  that  this  edition  will  accomplish  more 
good  and  reach  a  far  larger  number  of  men,  sin¬ 
gle  and  married,  than  the  first  edition,  it  is  with 
pleasure  and  the  deepest  interest  in  young  men 
that  the  author  offers  this  revised  edition  to  the 
entire  English-speaking  world. 

January  1,  1911.  THE  AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 


PERFECT  MANHOOD.  HOW  INHERITED. 

Heredity  in  animals  and1  man  compared.  The 
lower  animals  instinctively  abserve  law.  Suscep¬ 
tible  of  physical  improvement.  Most  rapid  improve¬ 
ment  in  domestic  animals  due  to  hereditary  laws 
applied  by  man.  Man  is  hereditarily  degenerate. 
Original  cause.  Three  factors  of  human  improve¬ 
ment,  heredity,  environment  and  the  grace  of  God. 
Most  children  unfortunately  born.  Jonathan  Ed¬ 
wards  and  Max  Jukes.  Heredity  explained.  Se¬ 
lecting  a  companion.  Parental  preparation  and 
parental  training. 


CHAPTER  II. 

HOW  ATTAINED  AND  MAINTAINED. 

The  sexual  system.  The  function  of  each  sexual 
organ.  Meaning  of  the  puberty  and  adolescence 
periods.  The  relation  of  the  sexual  life  to  the  at¬ 
tainment  of  perfect  manhood.  Nature  and  value 
of  the  sexual  life.  The  stallion,  the  rooster,  etc. 
How  this  energy  changes  the  boy  into  a  perfect 
man.  The  relation  of  the  mind  to  the  sexual  life. 


A  continent  life  essential  to  physical,  sexual,  men¬ 
tal  and  moral  soundness.  Sexual  gratification  not 
a  necessity.  How  to  direct  this  sexual  energy  so 
as  to  aid  in  the  making  of  a  perfect  man.  How 
manhood  is  maintained. 

CHAPTER  III. 

HOW  MANHOOD  IS  WRECKED. 

Some  noble  specimens  of  manhood.  Most  men 
are  defective.  Causes  of  sensuality;  bad  heredity, 
stimulants  and  narcotics,  lascivious  thoughts  and 
obscene  language,  modem  dance,  kissing  games, 
cheap  shows  and  theatres,  immodest  dress  and  im¬ 
pure  pictures.  Masturbation ;  causes,  when  started, 
physical,  mental  and  moral  effects,  examples.  How 
to  prevent  the  evil.  Venereal  diseases;  chancroid, 
gonorrhea  and  syphilis.  Sin  is  sexless.  Advice  to 
fathers.  An  appeal  for  a  pure  life. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

HOW  MANHOOD  IS  REGAINED. 

The  advantage  of  becoming  a  Christian.  A  per¬ 
fectly  natural  cure.  Marriage  not  a  cure.  Nature’s 
recovery  begun.  Food  and  drink.  Stimulants  and 
narcotics.  Baths.  Sleep.  Constipation. 

CHAPTER  V. 


TWENTY  VITAL  AND  PRACTICAL  QUESTIONS  OF  A 

YOUNG  MAN  ANSWERED. 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HOW  INHERITED. 

Just  how  God  brought  into  being  the  original 
progenitors  of  every  specie  of  plant  and  animal 
life,  including  man,  we  do  not  know,  but  biologists 
have  discovered  many  of  the  laws  governing  their 
propagation  and  improvement.  The  lower  animals 
instinctively  obey  every  law  they  are  under.  Pos¬ 
sessing  no  moral  nature,  they  are  not  susceptible 
to  moral  law.  The  higher  forms,  possessing  only 
a  very  limited  mental  nature,  they  are  susceptible 
to  only  a  very  limited  mental  improvement.  Pos¬ 
sessing  a  physical  nature  they  are  susceptible  to 
indefinite  physical  improvement.  Left  alone  in 
their  native  jungles,  forests  and  plains,  guided 
alone  by  instinct,  there  would  be  almost  no  retro¬ 
gression  or  improvement  among  them.  Under  the 
domesticating  influence  of  intelligent  man,  im¬ 
provements  are  marked  and  rapid.  Our  popular 
breeds  of  fine  poultry;  our  pointer  and  setter  dogs; 
our  Poland  China,  Berkshire  and  Duroc  hogs;  our 
Southdown  and  Merino  sheep;  our  Durham,  Jer¬ 
sey  and  Holstein  cattle;  and  our  Percheron,  Coach 
and  Hambletonian  horses  are  the  products  of  the 
applied  laws  of  heredity  to  our  domestic  animals 
during  the  past  fifty  years. 

7 


8 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


Man  is  bom  into  this  world  with  only  a  very 
limited  instinctive  nature,  but  with  unlimited 
mental  and  moral  possibilities.  Because  of  his 
superior  mental  and  moral  natures  he  is 
capable  of  well  nigh  infinitely  more  develop¬ 
ment  than  are  the  lower  animals.  We  boast  of 
the  perfections  of  our  domestic  animals,  and  ridi¬ 
cule  the  suggestion  of  a  perfect  man.  We  have 
great  stock  shows  and  journals,  import  fresh  blood 
from  foreign  countries  at  fabulous  prices  that' we 
may  improve  our  stock ;  but  when  we  would  engage 
in  the  sacred  function  of  parenthood1  we  often 
ignore  the  teaching  of  science  and  the  Bible  and 
turn  this  important  work  over  to  perverted  impulse 
and  blind  chance.  The  lower  animals  left  alone  to 
their  instinctive  nature  rarely  parent  a  defective 
offspring.  In  the  case  of  man,  one-half  of  his 
offspring  die  before  they  are  six  years  old,  over 
sixty  per  cent  are  defective  in  body  from  birth, 
and  all  indicate  mental  and  moral  defect,  as  they 
grow  older.  Should  this  be  true?  The  hardest 
battles  of  the  mass  of  intelligent  erring  men  are, 
and  always  have  been,  to  relieve  themselves  from 
their  own  inborn  selfish  tendencies  and  vicious  de¬ 
sires  to  violate  the  very  laws  intended  for  their 
greatest  good  and  highest  happiness.  Why  this 
struggle  for  deliverance  from  -our  inward  foes? 
Does  it  not  indicate  that  our  first  parents  violated 
6ome  law  that  involved  their  physical,  mental  and1 
moral  natures  in  a  way  that  made  the  evil  effects 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


9 


transmissible  ?  The  author  has  no  pet  theories  to 
advocate.  His  private  opinion  is  that  the  story  ot 
the  fall  of  man  recorded  in  Genesis  is  the  inspired 
figure  of  a  great  fact  in  human  history.  It  ap¬ 
pears  to  him  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  Bible,  ob¬ 
servation,  experience  and  reason  that  the  original 
fall  of  man  was  due  to  a  selfish  violation  of  the 
laws  of  sex.  This  would  be  a  cause,  a  sin,  equal  to 
the  physical,  mental  and  moral  effects  produced. 
Cause  ail'd  effect  are  inseparably  related.  They 
are  always  equal  to  each  other.  The  lower  animals 
never  violate  the  lawrs  of  sex.  Perfect  offspring  rs 
the  almost  invariable  rule.  Violation  of  the  lawrs 
of  sex  is  the  well  nigh  universal  sin  of  man.  Be¬ 
cause  of  this,  most  children  are  handicapped  from 
birth. 

In  the  past  philosophers,  sages  and  reformers 
have  said,  “give  children  good  educational  and 
moral  environments  and  you  will  evolve  a  perfect 
race.  Priests,  prophets  and  preachers  have  said, 
“good  advice  us  far  as  it  goes,  but  it  is  insufficient. 
Man  is  fallen.  Hi9  very  nature  is  depraved.  He 
must  be  regenerated  before  good  environment  can 
do  its  best  for  man/’  Both  of  these  classes  of 
friends  to  the  improvement  of  the  human  family 
were  right  but  they  overlooked  one  factor.  Mod¬ 
em  thinkers,  reformers,  Christians  are  saying, 
“give  to  every  child  good  heredity,  good  environ¬ 
ment  and  the  grace  of  God  and  you  will  have  race 
regeneration.” 


10 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


Knowing  the  cause  of  an  ailing  patient  will  help 
the  doctor  in  making  a  correct  diagnosis  and  this 
is  essential  to  effective  treatment.  For  six  thous¬ 
and  years  humanity  has  been  desperately  sick.  Her 
physicians  have  in  a  measure  misunderstood  the 
causes,  and,  their  diagnosis  being  partly  wrong, 
their  treatment  has  not  produced1  a  perfect  cure. 
For  ages  past,  through  the  physiological  and 
psychological  influences  of  sensual  parents,  chil¬ 
dren  have  received  unfortunate  heredity.  Only  a 
few  parents  have  been  wise  enough  to  protect  their 
children  from  this  degenerative  influence. 

Dr.  Winfield  Seott  Hall  in  Reproduction  and 
Sexual  Hygiene  says,  “There  is  another  sacrifice, 
if  it  may  be  so  called,  the  husband  is  called  upon 
to  make  during  the  pregnancy  of  his  wife,  namely, 
to  abstain  absolutely  from  sexual  intercourse  dur¬ 
ing  the  period  of  pregnancy  and  for  two  or  three 
months  following.  All  other  animals  observe  this 
period  of  continence.  Nature  demands  that  man 
observe  it.  .  .  .  The  author  submits  this  question 
to  all  fair-minded  men;  Is  it  not  due  to  the  wife 
that  -she  be  not  asked  to  satisfy  the  recurring  sexual 
desires  of  the  husband  during  the  period  when  her 
life  and  its  energies  are  so  sacred  to  the  race,  to 
society  and  to  the  family?  Tihe  author  submits 
this  question  because  some  men  are  known  to  trans¬ 
gress  this  law  of  nature.” 

Prof.  Newton  N.  Riddell  says,  “The  present 
ethics  of  marriage  licenses  that  which  degrades  the 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


11 


affections  and  destroys  the  possibilities  of  harmony* 
The  abuse  of  the  generative  function  is  the  chief 
cause  of  domestic  inharmony,  divorce  and  shame, 
inherited  lascivious  tendencies  and  the  vices  and 
crimes  which  follow.  .  .  .  Three-fourths  of  the 
race  have  their  origin  in  uncontrolled  desire,  while 
less  than  one-half  of  the  remainder  are  as  well  born 
as  they  might  have  been.” 

The  author  suggests  that  the  reader  pause  one 
moment  before  he  criticises  these  quotations  from 
two  of  the  purest  and  greatest  thinkers  of  the  age. 
If  you  are  married,  what  right  have  you  to  preach 
continence  to  your  young  people  or  teach  purity  to 
your  sons  and  daughters,  if  you  cannot  practice 
©elf-restraint  on  a  level  with  the  lower  animals  dur 
ing  this  sacred  period.  If  bad  heredity  is  respon¬ 
sible  for  defective  manhood,  then  good  heredity 
will  help  produce  an  insure  perfect  manhood.  If 
the  violation  of  the  laws  of  sex  was  the  original 
sin  and  started  degeneracy  in  the  human  family, 
then  a  continual  violation  of  the  laws  of  sex,  by 
most  of  the  descendants  through  the  ages,  has  been 
a  continual  cause  of  defective  manhood.  In 
many  of  the  nations  of  the  past  the  violations 
of  the  laws  of  sex  has  been1  the  primary 
cause  of  their  decadence.  If  these  propsi- 
tions  are  true,  then  it  logically  follows  that 
obedience  to  the  laws  of  sex  is  a  primary  condition 
of  transmitting  the  possibilities  of  perfect  man¬ 
hood  to  our  offspring  and  of  their  attaining  and 


12 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


maintaining  this  ideal.  While  the  violation  of  the 
laws  of  sex  results  in  the  transmission  of  bad 
heredity,  it  is  not  the  only  cause  of  bad  heredity. 
The  author  believes  that  the  violation  of  these  laws, 
before  and  after  marriage  is  the  chief  cause  of 
hereditary  degeneracy.  All  men  have  inhrited  a 
stronger  tendency  toward  lust  than  any  other  mor¬ 
bid  condition.  The  ministry  is  unquestionably  the 
purest  class  of  men  in  the  wTorld.  Yet,  while  one 
minister  falls  through  strong  drink,  five  fall 
through  lust.  Where  one  layman  falls  through 
drunkenness,  ten  fall  through  lust.  Why  is  this? 
They  have  inherited  a  stronger  tendency  toward 
impurity  than  toward  strong  drink. 

History  reveals  that  man  has  evolved  three  types 
of  manhood.  First,  was  the  man  of  physical  de¬ 
velopment  and  strength.  The  second  was  the  man 
of  mind.  The  third  was  the  man  of  character.  The 
man  of  the  future  wfill  combine  these  three  types 
into  a  perfect  manhood).  The  intelligent  study 
and  application  of  the  laws  of  heredity  in  the  fu¬ 
ture  will  take  into  account  these  three  factors  that 
form  the  three  sides  of  a  well  rounded  life.  Every 
child  has  an  absolute  and  inalienable  right  to  re¬ 
ceive  from  its  parents,  not  only  a  strong,  sound 
and  healthy  body  free  from  all  inherited  tendencies 
toward  disease;  but  the  basis  for  a  brilliant  mind 
and  strong  religious  tendencies.  Seventy  per  cent 
of  immoral  women  had  drunken  fathers,  mothers 
or  both.  King  alcohol  is  the  father  of  lust. 


-PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


13 


No  man  can  habitually  use  liquor  and  lead  a 
pure  life.  Eight  out  of  ten  children  of  drunken 
parents  are  defective  from  birth.  Many  drinking 
men  boast  that  they  have  a  right  to  drink,  get 
drunk  -and  get  on  a  prolonged  debauch,  if  they 
wish.  This  they  claim  is  their  personal  liberty. 
A  man’s  personal  liberty  to  live  in  sin  ends  where 
the  welfare  of  his  unborn  children  begins.  The 
man  who  deliberately  lives  in  sin  and  foredooms 
his  children  to  defectiveness  is  a  criminal.  Here 
is  a  man  who  wishes  to  buy  a  family  'horse,  one 
that  he  can  afford  to  trust  his  wife  and  children 
with.  Here  are  two  fine  young  specimens,  equally 
pedigreed.  Upon  inquiry,  he  finds  them  both  to  be 
quite  gentle.  Will  he  stop  with  that  information? 
No,  he  looks  up  the  sire  and  dam  of  each  of  these 
young  horses.  He  finds  the  family  record  of  one 
to  be  excellent.  The  family  record  of  the  other 
young  horse  shows  that  the  sire  ten  years  before  the 
birth  of  this  colt  was  vicious,  killed  his  owner,  ran 
away  with  a  carriage,  threw  his  rider  and  was  un¬ 
controllable  for  several  months.  Which  one  of  these 
horses  will  this  father  buy  ?  He  will  buy  the  one 
whose  parents  were  gentle.  But  this  same  father 
ha9  a  daughter  who  is  entertaining  a  marriage 
proposition  from  two  suitors.  She  asks  her  father 
for  advice.  One  of  the  young  men  is  poor,  has  all 
of  the  elements  of  true  manhood,  with-  splendid 
parentage.  The  other  young  man  is  rich  and  mor¬ 
ally  rotten;  his  father  was  a  corrupt  politician. 


14 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


iWhat  will  be  the  adduce  of  the  father?  About 
nine  times  out  of  ten  money  counts1  for  more  with 
this  man  than  manhood. 

Dr.  Galton  of  London,  says,  in  his  book  on 
“Hereditary  ‘Genious,”  “The  children  of  eminent 
parents  will  themselves  become  eminent  after  the 
following  proportion;  45  per  cent  of  the  chidren 
of  eminent  poets;  51  per  cent  of  the  children  of 
eminent  literary  parents;  65  per  cent  of  the  chil¬ 
dren  of  eminent  scientists;  and  89  per  cent  of  the 
children  of  eminent  artist  and  musicians;  while 
only  one  child  out  of  10,000  of  the  average  popula¬ 
tion  will  ever  become  eminently  great.”  Dr.  Gal¬ 
ton  speaks  of  intellectual  greatness  and  shows  the 
relation  of  parents  who  think,  read  and  study  to 
their  children’s  possible  greatness;  and  the  relation 
of  parents  who  do  not  read,  think  and  study  to 
their  children’s  mental  stupidity.  Every  citizen 
owes  to  the  next  generation  a  fairly  studious  life. 

Take  two  noted  families,  one  illustrating  the 
influence  of  good  heredity,  the  other  illustrating 
the  influences  of  bad  heredity.  Jonathan  Edwards 
was  born  of  excellent  parents  in  1720.  He  and  his 
wife  were  early  converted  and  received  a  good  edu¬ 
cation  and  devoted  their  lives  to  ,• self-improvement 
and  to  the  work  of  helping  others.  1394  of  his  de¬ 
scendants  have  been  identified  and  studied;  13 
were  university  presidents;  65  were  college  and 
university  professors;  60  were  prominent  lawyers, 
90  were  physicians,  over  two  hundred  were  minis- 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


15 


ters,  oyer  300  were  progressive  farmers, 
32  were  noted  authors,  besides  these  there 
were  U.  S.  congressmen  and  -senators,  mayors  of 
large  cities,  ministers  to  foreign  ports  and  one 
vice-president.  Only  one  descendant  of  this  man 
left  a  blot  on  the  family  record — Aaron  Burr,  who 
fought  -a  duel  and  killed  his  fellow  man.  But 
when  you  read  one  of  his  speeches  you  are  con¬ 
scious  that  you  are  reading  after  one  of  the  master 
minds  of  the  world. 

Max  Jukes,  born  in  1703,  wa  s  a  lazy  fellow,  in¬ 
sisted  that  his  personal  liberty  entitled  him  to  the 
right  to  do  as  he  pleased.  He  drank,  but  would 
not  be  considered  a  common  drunkard.  He  mar¬ 
ried  a  common  prostitute  and  moved  upon  the 
Hudson  River.  There  he  gathered  alb-out  him  his 
class,  with  whom  his  descendants  married  and 
intermarried.  903  of  his  descendants  have  been 
identified  and  studied.  Over  300  were  delinquents 
and  dependants,  200  died  prematurely,  145  were 
drunkards,  285  were  viciously  diseased,  and  90 
were  female  prostitutes,  over  100  spent  an  average 
of  13  years  each  in  prison.  This'  family  cost  New 
York  state  over  one  million  dollars. 

.Suppose  that  the  environments  of  these  two 
men  could  have  been  reversed,  leaving  their  heredi  ¬ 
ty  as  dt  was,  could  we  have  written  the  figures  af¬ 
ter  Max  J ukes  that  we  did  after  Jonathan  Edwards 
and  vice  versa?  No  well  informed  man  believes 
that  we  could.  Those  great  minds  and  characters 


16 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


on  one  side,  and  the  dependants  and  the  delin¬ 
quents  on  the  other,  could  not  have  been  changed 
from  one  side  to  the  other,  by  simiply  reversing 
the  environments  of  these  two  men.  Had  this 
been  done,  some  of  the  descendants  of  Max  Jukes 
would  have  been  good  citizens,  possibly  one  or 
two  might  have  become  great,  but  many  of  them 
would  have  been  defective :  some  of  the  descendants 
of  Jonathan  Edwards  would  have  gone  wrong  be¬ 
cause  of  bad  environment,  but  most  of  them  be¬ 
cause  of  their  blood  would  have  made  a  fair  suc¬ 
cess  in  life,  and  some  would  have  overcome  their 
bad  environment  and  arisen  to  distinction  and  emi¬ 
nence.  The  factors  of  heredity  and  environment 
are  ever  active  in  every  life.  In  the  case  of  some 

individuals  and  families,  one  factor  seems  to  dom- 

# 

mate,  while  in  the  case  of  other  individuals  and 
families,  the  other  factor  seems  to  dominate.  In 
the  case  of  the  two  families  just  compared,  heredi¬ 
ty  seems  to  have  been  the  dominant  factor. 

There  is  an  intimate  relation  between  the  physi¬ 
cal,  mental  and  moral  natures.  At  some  point  they 
meet  and  influence  each  other.  'Where  is  that 
point  ?  Is  it  in  the  blood  ?  “The  blood  is  the  life.” 
Every  phenomena  of  life,  physical,  mental  and 
moral  is  influenced  by  the  condition  the  blood 
may  be  in.  The  saliva  formed  from  the  blood  of 
a  person  in  a  normal  condition  is  remedial  when 
applied  to  a  fresh  wound  and  tends  to  alleviate 
pain.  Nature  teaches  all  of  the  lower  animals  and 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


17 


man  this  lesson.  When  a  person  has  been  angry 
for  hours,  mentally  and)  morally  abnormal,  the 
saliva  -applied  to  a  fresh  wound  will  give  it  the  ap¬ 
pearance  of  having  been  -poisoned  and  it  will  be 
difficult  to  cure.  A  baby  nursing  the  breast  of  an 
angry  mother  may  be  thrown  into  spasms.  Hun¬ 
dreds  of  such  cases  have  occurred.  Anger  is  not 
only  a  mental  act,  but  it  involves  the  moral  nature, 
it  is  a  sin.  Jealousy  is  often  the  cause  of  dyspep¬ 
sia.  Unusual  grief,  because  of  the  loss  of  property 
or  the  death  of  some  member  of  the  family,  often 
causes  a  temporary  loss  of  health.  A  chemical  test 
of  the  various  secretions  of  the  body,  under  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  these  abnormal  states  of  mind  and  mor¬ 
als,  would  reveal  .an  abnormal  condition  in  all  of 
these  secretions.  If  the  saliva  formed  from  the 
blood  of  an  angry  person  is  so  influenced  as  to  poi¬ 
son  instead  of  cure;  if  the  milk  from  the  mothers 
breast,  formed  from  the  blood  while  she  was  angry, 
will  throw  her  babe  into  convulsions :  does  it  not 
appear  plausible  that  the  mental  and  moral  states 
also  affect  the  sexual  secretions  formed  from  the 
blood?  The  physical,  mental  and  moral  life  of  a 
man  is  in  his  blood.  The  procreative  cells  formed 
from  the  blood  of  a  father  and  mother,  when  unit¬ 
ed  under  proper  conditions  will  result  in  an  off¬ 
spring  'having  assimilated  in  its  physical,  mental 
and  moral  natures,  the  predominating  character¬ 
istics  of  its  parents. 

If  the  father  is  high  tempered,  thinks  more 


18 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


about  drink,  gambling,  theft  or  lust  than  he  does 
about  being  a  noble  citizen,  a  true  husband  and 
father,  not  only  may  his  blood  be  in  a  bad  condi¬ 
tion  due  to  the  physical  side  of  -sin,  but  the  life 
energies  in  the  blood  will  be  influenced  by  the 
mental  and  moral  side  of  ©in.  The  child  gets  its 
three-fold  life  from  the  procreative  cells.  These 
cells  receive  their  life  from  the  blood  from  which 
they  were  formed.  When  man  lives  in  harmony 
with  all  the  physical,  mental  and  moral  laws  that 
he  is  under,  his  physical,  mental  and  moral  life 
will  be  normal  and  will  be  able  to  transmit  to  this 
posterity  the  possibilities  of  perfect  manhood  and 
womanhood.  When  man  habitually  violates  the 
laws  he  is  under,  his  three-fold  life  will  be  abnor¬ 
mal  and  he  cannot  transmit  to  his  offspring  nor¬ 
mal  possibilities. 

If  the  mother,  at  the  time  the  ovum  is  being 
elaborated  in  one  of  her  ovaries,  at  the  initial  mo¬ 
ment  and  during  the  nine  months  of  gestation,  is 
constantly  angry,  despondent,  passionately  fond  of 
worldly  amusements,  craves  alcoholic  drinks,  ©he 
will  Impress  her  child  in  the  same  way. 

The  father’s  hereditary  influence  upon  his  child 
ceases  with  the  initial  of  the  child’s  life.  Not  so 
with  the  mother’s  hereditary  influence.  During 
the  nine  months  of  gestation  the  mother’s  physical, 
mental  and  moral  life  is  the  child’s  source  of  sup¬ 
ply.  During  this  very  pliable  formative  period  of 
her  child  the  mother  may  very  largely  modify  or 


PERFECT  MANTFOOl). 


19 


change  the  influence  of  the  father  on  her  child.  1  f 
he  has  good  qualities  and  she  has  corresponding 
bad  ones,  the  good  qualities  transmitted  by  the 
father  to  his  child  may  be  very  largely  overcome  by 
the  mother.  If  the  father  has  bad  habits,  bad  dis¬ 
position  and  bad  blood,  the  mother  can  largely 
modify  the  bad  tendencies  that  the  child  would  in¬ 
herit  from  its  father.  As  a  rule  women  do  not 
abuse  their  bodies,  minds  and  morals  by  alcoholic 
stimulants,  narcotics  and  sexual  abuse  as  men  do. 
Evidently,  if  women  were  addicted  to  these  habits 
to  the  extent  that  men  are  our  race  would  deterior¬ 
ate  faster  than  it  does.  The  offspring  of  scarlet 
women  become  prostitutes  with  but  few  exceptions. 
The  children  of  a  drunken  mother  are  usually 
drunkards,  prostitutes  and  criminals.  If  a  mother 
is  feeble-minded  her  children  are  all  weak-minded 
<or  insane.  If  a  man  is  a  drunkard,  a  libertine  or 
feeble-minded,  his  temperate,  pure,  intelligent  wife 
may  so  overcome  his  hereditary  influence  upon 
her  children  and  by  proper  training  as  to  prevent 
most  or  all  of  them  from  going  wrong,  or  being 
specially  defective.  People  who  do  not  believe  in 
the  transmission  of  good  or  bad  tendencies,  claim 
that  they  find  exceptions  to  all  of  these  rules,  some¬ 
times  preachers^  children  go  wrong  and  sometimes 
a  drunkard  has  good  children.  Sometimes  a  child 
is  good  or  bad  because  of  environment  when  the 
factor  of  herdity,  if  left  alone,  wrould  have  pro¬ 
duced  the  opposite  effect.  It  is  true  that  some 


20 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


most  excellent  parents,  strong  of  body  and  sound 
of  mind  have  parented  ve;ry  inferior  children,,  But 
these  effects  had  a  definite  cause.  Many  such 
parents  ignorantly  violate  some  law  of  heredity  of 
which  the  public  knows  nothing.  It  is  common  to 
hear  some  one  say,  “I  know  of  children  of  drunken 
fathers  who  turned  out  well.”  True  enough,  but 
in  most  cases  it  was  his  wife  that  deserved  the 
credit  for  overcoming  the  bad  influence  of  the 
father  in  his  child.  Or,  it  is  possible,  that  at  the 
initial  moment  and  for  months  before,  the  drunken 
father  had  sobered  up,  had  sworn  off  from  strong 
drink,  talked  and  voted  for  temperance  and  under 
this  intense  mental  opposition  to  strong  drink, 
he  becomes  the  fathr  of  a  child  that  in  later  life  is 
known  as  a  teetotaler.  The  initial  of  his  next  child 
perhaps  took  place  during  a  drunken  debauch,  or 
when  he  had  no  mental  and  moral  opposition 
against  strong  drink,  or  when  he  was  craving  alco¬ 
hol  and  this  child  becomes  a  drunkard  from  his 
boyhood.  Here  is  a  drunken  father  whose  heredi¬ 
tary  influence  led  one  of  his  sons  to  be  sober  and 
the  other  to  be  a  drunkard. 

In  selecting  a  companion,  one  should  study  the 
physical,  mental  and  moral  life,  not  only  of  the 
one  to  be  chosen,  but  of  his  or  her  family  connec¬ 
tions  as  far  back  as  possible.  Incompetency,  thiev¬ 
ishness,  drunkenness,  tuberculosis,  venereal  pois¬ 
ons,  idiocy  and  insanity  are  all  transmissible  to 
children,  most  easily  from  the  parents,  but  often 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


21 


from  the  grandparents.  If  the  primary  object  of 
marriage  is  'Children,  and  the  joy  they  bring  to 
their  parents  is  dependent  upon  their  bodies  being 
healthy  and  strong,  minds  vigorous  and  bright, 
disposition  sweet,  and  morals  grand  and  noble; 
then  this  first  consideration,  the  selection  of  a 
companion  is  paramount. 

You  would  not  only  exercise  wisdom  in  the  se¬ 
lection  of  your  stock  for  standard  breeding  pur¬ 
poses,  but  having  made  the  selection,  you  would  be 
careful  to  conserve  their  sexual  strength.  Young 
people  should  carefully  conserve  their  sexual 
strength  before  and  after  marriage.  Perfect  man¬ 
hood  cannot  be  inherited  potentially  from  parents 
who  are  sexually  debilitated.  The  husband  and 
wife  should  be  in  a  perfectly  healthy  condition, 
living  moral  or  religious  lives,  temperate  in  their 
sexual  relations,  and  both  should  desire  a  child 
when  conception  takes  place.  During  the  nine 
months  the  mother  should  have  plenty  of  good 
food,  the  purest  air,  cheery  surroundings,  enter¬ 
tain  only  the  purest  and  loftiest  thoughts,  read  on¬ 
ly  the  best  literature,  including  the  Bible,  culti¬ 
vate  a  kind,  loving,  charitable  disposition,  be  in¬ 
dustrious  in  light  work,  take  plenty  of  outdoor 
exercise  and  never  strain  herself.  The  husband 
should  restrain  his  sexual  desires,  he  should  see 
that  his  wife  is  relieved  of  all  heavy  work  and  as 
many  of  the  cares  of  life  as  possible;  he  should  do 
nothing  to  irritate  his  wife,  and  he  should  know 


22 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


that  during  the  period  of  gestation  that  his  wife 
may  have  many  whims  that  should  be  granted.  Let 
husband  and  wife  constantly  remember  that  the 
child  to  be  born  into  their  home  has  an  inaliena¬ 
ble  right  to  inherit  a  healthy  and  strong  body,  a 
perfect  mind,  and  strong  moral  tendencies.  The 
prenatal  period  of  any  child  is  more  important 
than  any  other  similar  period  of  its  earthly  life. 
We  are  responsible  to  our  children,  to  the  world 
and  to  God  for  what  we  bequeath  them  at  birth. 
The  child  that  is  "well  trained  before  it  is  born  is 
fully  half  trained.  Then,  is  not  potential  perfect 
manhood  and  womanhood  intelligently  transmitted 
to  our  children  worthy  of  our  best  thought,  effort 
and  prayer  ? 


PERFECT  MANHOOD 


25 


CHAPTER  II. 

HOW  ATTAINED  AND  MAINTAINED. 

The  plate  represents  a  man's  body  so  drawn  as  to 
show  his  urinary  and  reproductive  systems.  The 
urinary  system  consists  of  the  following  organs : 
The  (1)  Kidneys,  located  just  above  the  small  of 
the  hack  and  in  front  of  the  spinal  column.  Only 
one  kidney  is  shown  in  the  plate.  The  function  of 
the  kidneys  is  to  take  up  waste  water  and  impuri¬ 
ties  from  the  blood.  As  rapidly  as  this  fluid,  called 
urine,  is  formed  it  is  passed  through  two  small 
ducts,  the  (2)  ureters  into  the  (3)  bladder.  Here 
the  urine  is  stored  away  until  nature  prompts  us  to 
•discharge  it  from1  the  body.  The  act  by  which  the 
urine  is  passed  from  the  body  is  called  urinating. 
In  referring  to  this  act,  men  and  boys  should  all 
learn  to  use  this  term.  The  urine  passes  from  the 
body  through  a  duct  that  leads  out  through  the 
external  male  member  and  is  called  the  (4)  ure¬ 
thra.  This  canal  or  duct  has  a  double  function. 
■We  will  learn  later  that  it  serves  as  a  channel  for 
the  periodic  transmission  of  secretions  from  the 
sexual  glands.  Its  double  function  makes  it  a 
part  of  the  two  systems,  the  urinary  and  the  re¬ 
productive  . 

The  male  sexual  organs  are  partly  on  the  outside 
and  partly  on  the  inside  of  the  body.  The  external 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


26 

organs,  being  familiar  to  all  men,  are  shown  only 
in  part  in  the  cut.  God  is  as  much  the  author  of 
the  sexual  organs  as  he  is  of  the  hand,  the  eye,  or 
the  heart.  He  made  them  as  pure  as  he  did  any 
other  organs  of  the  body.  Their  true  names  are 
as  pure  as  any  other  words  in  the  English  lan-i 
guage.  They  are  as  pure  as  the  words  home,  moth¬ 
er,  Bible,  church,  heaven,  angels,  God,  so  far  as 
words  are  concerned.  We  look  upon  these  organs 
as  being  vile  and  sinful  just  to  the  extent  that  we 
have  been  falsely  educated  and  have  sinned  in  the 
use  of  them.  If  twenty  men  were  to  write  on  pa¬ 
per  all  the  different  names  they  learned  when  they 
were  boys  for  their  external  sexual  organs,  they 
would  find  among  them  thirty  different  names. 
Let  them  now  go  to  the  dictionary  and  search  for 
these  names  and  their  meaning.  They  fail  to  find 
one- fourth  of  them  and  the  other  three-fourths  do 
not  in  their  meaning  refer  even  remotely  to  the 
sexual  organs.  This  is  a  fair  sample  of  our  twen¬ 
tieth  century  knowledge  of  sex.  I  doubt  if  a  semi¬ 
savage  boy  could  be  found  that  is  guilty  of  such, 
gross  misuse  of  the  words  of  his  language.  This 
incorrect  use  of  sexual  terms  is  not  only  found 
among  the  uneducated,  but  it  is  quite  £ommo n 
among  teachers,  lawyers,  ministers,  and  even  phys" 
icians.  The  use  of  street  vernacular  suggests  las¬ 
civious  thought.  For  this  reason,  all  men  and 
boys  who  wish  to  be  pure,  should  abandon  the  use 
of  the  “street”  words.  We  insist  that  our  children 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


27 


be  taught  the  correct  names  and  functions  of  all 
the  other  organs  and  functions  of  the  body  as  if 
their  health,  happiness  and  heaven  depended  upon 
this  knowledge  being  correct  and  thorough,  while 
we  turn  our  children  over  to  the  ignorant,  vicious 
playmates  to  get  all  of  their  knowledge  of  sex. 

The  external  male  organ  through  which  the 
urethra  passes  is  the  (5)  penis.  This  organ  varies 
in  size  from  two  and  one-half  inches  to  five  inche3 
in  length  in  the  flaccid  state.  In  an  erect  state  this 
organ  varies  from  five  to  seven  or  eight  inches. 
The  sexual  power  is  in  no  sense  dependent  upon 
the  size  of  the  organ.  One  man  may  be  just  as 
normal  in  his  sexual  powers  whose  penis  is  small 
as  the  man  whose  organ  would  be  considered  large. 
From  the  number  of  letters  that  I  receive  from 
young  men  asking  for  information  as  to  this  point, 
I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  there  are  many  young 
men  who  give  themselves  entirely  too  much  con¬ 
cern  in  this  regard.  This  morbid  state  of  mind 
leads  to  'bad  results,  as  it  keeps  the  mind  too  much 
on  tlfe  sexual  organs. 

Underneath  the  penis  is  a  sack  or  bag,  called 
the  (6)  scrotum  in  which  are  suspended  two 
glands,  called  the  (7)  testes  or  testicles.  In  the 
adult  these  generative  glands  are  one  and  one-half 
inches  in  length  and  about  one  and  one-quarter 
inches  in  diameter.  The  left  one  is  usually  a  lit¬ 
tle  larger  and  swings  a  little  lower  than  the  right. 
Connected  with  each  testes  is  a  (8)  spermatic  ar- 


28 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


tery  that  supplies  the  gland  with  pure  blood.  The 
name  of  this  artery  indicates  that  the  testis  elab¬ 
orates  sperm  cells  from  the  blood  it  conveys.  Lead¬ 
ing  off  from  each  gland  is  a  (9)  spermatic  vein. 
The  (10)  vas  deferens  is  a  duct  that  leads  off  from 
each  testis  and  connects  it  with  the  internal  sexual 
organs.  The  two  are  called  the  vasa  deferentia. 
On  entering  the  scrotum  the  vas  deferens,  spermat¬ 
ic  artery  and  vein  are  all  enveloped  in  a  thin  cover¬ 
ing  and  form  the  spermatic  cord  that  may  be  easi¬ 
ly  felt  in  the  scrotum.  Here  they  gradually  be¬ 
come  a  mass  of  coiled  ducts  and  blood  vessels  called 
the  (11)  epididymis.  This  mass  of  coiled  tubing 
may  be  felt  on  one  side  of  each  testis.  The  outer 
membrane  of  the  testis  and  the  epididymis  forms 
partitions  in  the  gland  and  divides  it  into  many 
conical  divisions.  It  is  in  these  divisions  of  the 
testis  that  the  little  (12)  spermatazoa  are  formed. 
These  are  the  male  sexual  cells  that  fertilize  the 
ova  of  the  female.  A  spermatazoon  is  about  1-200 
of  an  inch  in  length  and  is  in  the  shape  of  a  tad¬ 
pole,  except  much  longer  in  proportion.  The  va3 
deferens  passes  up  through  the  groin  and  passes 
over  the  bladder  where  it  becomes  dilated  into  an 
enlargement  called  the  (13)  ampulla,  which  then 
narrows  to  a  smaller  duct  as  it  passes  into  the  pros¬ 
tate  gland  and  enters  the  urethra.  Each  one  of  the 
vas  deferens  forms  an  ampulla  and  converge  into 
a  common  duct  before  entering  the  urethra. 

At  this  point  there  are  two  vessels,  called  the 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


29 


(14)  seminal  vessels.  Until  recently  it  was  be¬ 
lieved  that  these  vessels  were  the  common  storage 
places  for  all  of  the  secretions  of  the  sexual  glands. 
Surrounding  the  deep  urethra,  neck  of  bladder  and 
into  which  the  ampullae  and  seminal  vessels  enter 
is  a  gland  called  the  (15)  prostate  gland.  This 
is  sometimes  called  the  heart  of  the  sexual  system. 
There  are  two  small  glands  connected  with  the 
urethra  just  beyond  the  prostate  gland  and  are 
called  the  (16)  cowper’s  glands. 

Formerly  it  was  believed  that  the  testes  formed1 
all  of  the  semen.  Prominent  American  and  Ger¬ 
man  doctors  have  disproved  that  theory.  It  is  now 
known  that  semen  is  composed  of  secretions  form¬ 
ed  by  the  testes,  seminal  vessels,  prostate  and  cow- 
per’s  glands.  It  is  claimed  by  these  eminent  au¬ 
thorities  that  the  testes  secrete  chemicalized  semen 
mainly  during  sexual  excitement.  At  all  times 
they  are  generating  an  energy  that  does  not  become 
fully  chemicalized  or  organized,  but  is  fully  ab¬ 
sorbed  back  into  the  system.  Under  sexual  excite¬ 
ment  the  fluid  formed  contains  spermatazoa  and 
this  fluid  passes  over  into  the  ampullae. 

The  seminal  vessels  are  forming  an  alkaline  al¬ 
buminous  secretion  all  of  the  time.  The  prostate 
gland  secretes  a  fluid  very  much  like  the  seminal 
vessels,  but  only  during  sexual  excitement.  The 
functions  of  the  secretions  from  the  seminal  vessels 
and  the  prostate  glands  appear  to  be  that  of  stim¬ 
ulating  and  maintaining  the  life  of  the  sperm  cells, 


30 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


during  the  interim  between  their  ejaculation  and 
•union  with  the  ova  of  the  female.  Much  of  the 
energy  of  the  seminal  vessels  that  is  secreted  at  all 
times,  is  evidently  absorbed!  'back  into  the  body 
with  beneficial  effect.  Since  the  prostate  secretes 
only  during  sexual  excitement,  it  is  evident  that 
the  only  function  of  its  secretion  is  related  to 
the  procreative  act. 

The  cowpePs  glands  secrete  only  during  .sexual 
excitement  and  forms  a  fluid  that  is  alkaline  in 
reaction.  The  peculiar  function  of  this  secretion 
is  to  neutralize  the  acid  condition  of  the  urethra 
due  to  the  periodic  passage  of  urine  which  is  acid 
in  its  nature.  This  acid  condition  of  the  urethra, 
would  destroy  the  vitality  of  the  spermatazoa  dur¬ 
ing  an  orgasm,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the 
oowper’s  glandls  discharge  their  alkaline  contents 
just  ahead  of  the  general  discharge  of  semen  at 
the  time  of  an  orgasm.  At  the  moment  of  an  or¬ 
gasm,  all  of  these  vessels  and  glands  pour  their 
secretions  into  the  urethra,  where  they  become 
mixed,  and  the  mixture  is  called  semen.  The  se¬ 
cretion  from  the  testes  contains  the  sperm  cells  and 
this  is  the  true  semen.  It  is  the  loss  of  the  semen 
formed  by  the  testes  that  wrecks  manhood  and  not 
the  loss  from  the  other  glands  that  sometimes  oc¬ 
curs.  These  facts  will  be  of  great  value  when  we 
come  to  study  natural  and  unnatural  emissions. 

At  birth  all  of  the  organs  of  a  boy  are  active  ex¬ 
cept  the  organs  of  sex.  They  are  inactive  until  he 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


31 


reaches  the  age  of  fourteen  and  a  half  years.  At 
this  time  the  sexual  glands  become  active  and  'be¬ 
gin  slowly  to  secrete  sexual  energy  (called  semen) 
from  the  blood.  This  period  of  a  boy’s  life  is 
known  as  puberty.  Two  thousand  miles  south  of 
this  point  puberty  comes  on  a  few  months  sooner, 
north,  this  period  comes  later.  The  cigarette  habit 
among  small  boys  and  the  mental  influence  of  im¬ 
pure  reading  and  thinking,  vulgar  •  conversation 
and  obscene  pictures  tend  to  hasten  the  approach 
of  puberty.  For  the  puberty  period  to  be  brought 
on  prematurely,  in  one  of  these  ways,  is  a  verj 
great  misfortune  for  the  boy,  since  these  condi 
tions  lead  to  a  wasting  of  this  energy  before  the 
body  is  prepared  to  absorb  and  properly  utilize  this 
energy  and1  this  leads  to  habits  of  dissipation. 
Could  I  produce  no  other  argument  against  the 
cigarette  habit,  this  would  be  sufficient  to  convince 
the  most  skeptical.  This  is  why  small  boys  who 
use  cigarettes  produce  stunted  men.  It  is  also  a 
strong  argument  in  favor  of  early  sex  education. 

This  sexual  life  has  three  functions,  namely, 
changing  the  boy  into  a  man,  maintaining  man¬ 
hood,  and  parenthood.  This  chapter  has  to  do 
mainly  with  the  first  function,  the  attainment 
of  perfect  manhood  through  the  sexual  life. 

The  transition  from  boyhood  to  matured  man¬ 
hood  extends  over  a  period  of  ten  years,  from  the 
time  the  boy  is  fourteen  until  he  is  twenty-four. 
This  is  tile  period  of  adolescence.  The  first  two 


32 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


and!  one-half  years  of  adolescence  is  the  puberty 
period.  The  youth  is  now  seventeen.  At  this  age 
hia  sexual  energy  becomes  fertile.  It  is  now  possi¬ 
ble  for  him  to  reproduce  himself,  but  it  would  be 
most  unfortunate  for  his  child,  for  the  scientific 
reason  that  an  immature  father  could  not  give  good 
heredity  to  his  child.  This  would  be  a  perversion 
of  the  sexual  life.  The  first  and  only  function  of 
the  sexual  life  during  the  ten  years  of  adolescence 
is  the  production  of  a  perfect  man. 

Authorities  tell  us  that  one  drop  of  this  energy 
is  worth  twenty  drops  of  the  purest  blood.  One 
ounce  of  it  is  worth  twenty  ounces  of  the  purest 
blood.  Take  a  discharge  of  this  energy  from  a 
healthy  mature  man  and  place  it  in  a  small  glass 
test  tube  and  allow  it  to  settle  down  for  several 
hours,  it  will  divide  itself  into  two  unequal  parts. 
The  upper  one  third  part  is  thin,  clear  and  slightly 
lubricating,  resembling  joint  water.  The  lower 
two-third  portion  is  milkish  in  color  and  jelly  like 
in  consistency.  This  lower  portion  (has  one  or 
more  thousand  living  cells,  called  sperm  cells  or 
spermatazoa.  They  are  of  the  shape  of  a  tadpole, 
but  longer  in  proportion.  They  are  very  tenacious 
of  life,  keeping  np  a  flagellating  movement  for 
hours.  Where  did  they  get  their  life?  They  re¬ 
ceived  their  life  from  the  blood  of  the  man  from 
whom  the  discharge  was  taken.  Should  one  of 
these  sperm  cells  unite  with  the  germ  cell  of  the 
opposite  sex  under  favorable  conditions,  an  imrnor- 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


33 


tal  soul  would  be  started  on  its  eternal  existence. 
When  born,  if  this  offspring  possesses  physical 
mental  and  spirit  life,  then  it  follows  that  these 
myriads  of  sperm  cells  in  ia  single  discharge,  each 
of  which  has  the  power  to  fertilize  a  germ  cell, 
possesses  the  essence  of  physical,  mental  and  spirit 
life.  This  fact  will  help  the  reader  to  appreciate 
the  relation  and  value  of  this  energy  to  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  manhood. 

Now  take  this  energy  from  the  body  of  a  sick 
man,  or  a  man  in  poor  health  and  treat  it  as  be¬ 
fore.  The  amount  will  be  smaller,  the  parts  will 
be  reversed  and  the  sperm  cells  will  be  fewer  and 
smaller  and  their  slow,  lazy  movements  indicate 
a  lack  of  vitality.  Should  one  of  these  sperm  cells 
unite  with  a  germ  cell  of  the  female  under  proper 
conditions,  the  offspring  would  be  more  or  less  de¬ 
fective.  You  would  not  think  of  mating  your  do¬ 
mestic  animals  wdien  one  is  in  a  poor  state  cf 
health.  Many  defective  children  are  born  into  the 
world  as  the  result  of  uncontrolled  passion  on  the 
part  of  one  parent,  when  the  other  was  in  a  poor 
state  of  health.  The  test  applied  to  the  man  in 
poor  health  is  true  of  the  heavy  users  of  tobacco, 
alcoholic  drinks,  the  heavy  masturbator,  the  man 
who  frequently  visits  the  prostitute  and  the  hus¬ 
band  who  is  extremely  excessive  in  the  marriage 
relations.  Fully  eighty  per  cent  of  the  children 
of  these  men  are  defective  from  birth. 

The  value  of  this  fluid  can  be  illustrated  in  sev- 


34 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


eral  otiheT  ways.  You  have  noticed  the  difference 
between  the  stallion  and!  the  gelding.  The  gelding, 
when  a  colt,  was  deprived  of  its  testes  by  a  process 
called  castration.  The  stallion  remained  unmuti¬ 
lated  and  during  adolescence  formed  this  vital  en¬ 
ergy  which  was  absorbed  back  into  the  system.  None 
of  this  energy  was  generated  by  the  gelding.  Now 
compare  the  prancing  stallion  with  dilated  nostrils* 
eyes  flashing  with  fire,  high  arched  neck,  heavy 
flowing  main  and  tail,  broad  and  deep  chest  and 
hip  muscles  with  the  gelding  that  is  slow,  pa¬ 
tient  and  has  but  little  life.  To  what  is  this  dif¬ 
ference  due?  Simply  this,  the  stallion  was  not 
deprived  of  the  power  to  produce  this  energy  which 
gave  him  his  perfect  development,  elastic  bearing, 
fire  and  vitality. 

Take  two  male  chickens  hatched  from1  eggs  laid 
by  the  same  hen  and  fertilized  by  the  same  rooster, 
put  them  in  the  same  pen  and  give  them  the  same 
food  and  water.  These  full  brother  chickens  have 
the  same  heredity  and  environment.  Under  these 
conditions  at  maturity  they  would  be  very  much 
alike.  "When  they  are  only  a  few  days  old,  capo- 
nize  one  of  them.  With  this  difference  between 
them,  though  they  still  have  the  same  heredity, 
food,  drink  and  pen,  yet  on  arriving  at  maturity 
they  would  be  very  much  unlike.  The  virile,  or 
natural  bird,  will  grow  a  rich  red  comb,  ear  lobes 
and  wattles,  long  glossy  neck  and  tail  feathers  and 
a  strong  sharp  spur  on  each  leg.  In  the  sterilized 


PERFECT  MAMIHOOD. 


35 


■bird,  the  spurs  will  be  absent  and  the  masculine 
ornaments  of  the  head,  neck  and  tail  will  resem¬ 
ble  an  old  hen  that  has  not  laid'  an  egg  in  six 
months.  The  sexual  energy  of  the  virile  bird  was 
in  part  used  to  perfect  these  masculine  charac¬ 
teristics.  In  the  desexed  bird,  the  absent  or  un¬ 
developed  masculine  characteristics  were  due  to 
the  fact  that  he  produced  none  of  this  energy. 

If  food  is  scarce,  the  natural  bird  will  run  down 
grasshoppers,  scratch  up  worms,  catch  insects  and 
in  this  way  make  his  own  living.  The  other  bird 
squats  around  and  starves.  The  industry  and  en¬ 
ergy  of  the  first  bird  were  due  to  his  sexual  life; 
the  inactivity  and  laziness  of  the  second  bird  were 
tihe  results  of  the  absence  of  this  energy. 

If  the  old  hen  and  her  brood  of  young  chickens 
are  in  the  pen  and  you  throw  them  some  food,  the 
natural  bird  invites  the  family  up  to  the  food, 
picks  a  bit  of  it  up  with  his  beak,  drops  it  down, 
glances  up  at  the  old  hen,  down  at  the  chickens 
and  clucks  to  them  to  eat  it.  These  acts  of  true 
masculine  interest  he  will  repeat  until  they  have 
enough.  If  nothing  is  left,  he  will  scratch  for  his 
living  and  divide  the  results  of  his  toil  with  the 
family.  The  other  bird  will  rush  up  to  the  food, 
with  one  foot  crushing  the  life  out  of  a  little  chick¬ 
en  and  the  other  foot  crushing  the  life  out  of 
another,  he  selfishly  gulps  down  the  food,  showing 
no  interest  in  the  old  hen  and  chickens.  The  gal¬ 
lantry  and  courtesy  of  the  first  bird  grew  out  of 


36 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


his  sexual  life.  The  absence  of  these  masculine 
qualities  in  the  second  bird  wag  due  to  his  not  pos¬ 
sessing  this  energy. 

If  an  eld  hawk  or  owl  appears  upon  the  scene, 
the  natural  bird  will  instinctively  line  up  for  battle 
and  will  fight  until  death  to  protect  the  mother 
and  her  brood.  The  other  bird  skulks  under  the 
nearest  floor.  The  sexual  life  in  the  first  bird  gives 
him  courage,  the  absence  of  it  in  the  second  bird 
leaves  him  cowardly. 

(Were  we  exploring  the  jungles  and  forests  of 
India  and  Africa,  we  would  see  a  large  variety  of 
beautiful  songsters  enjoying  perfect  freedom,  a 
large  variety  of  animals,  including  tigers,  lions  and 
elephants.  Not  one  in  a  hundred  of  the  birds  and 
animals  have  failed  to  reach  physical  perfection. 
This  is  largely  due  to  their  having  retained  their 
sexual  energy  in  their  bodies. 

The  thoughtful  and  interested  reader  is  inquir¬ 
ing,  “can  these  lessons  learned  from  the  birds  and 
animals  be  applied  in  all  of  their  details  to  the  hu¬ 
man  family?”  My  reply  is  positively  in  the  affirm¬ 
ative.' 

Long  years  ago,  in  the  Orient,  it  was  a  custom 
to  remove  the  testes  of  a  certain  part  of  the  male 
children  when  they  were  only  a  few  days  old.  -Such 
boys  were  called  eunuchs.  The  contrast  between 
the  virile  man  and  the  eunuch  is  as  striking  as  that 
of  the  stallion  and  the  gelding.  The  eunuch,  when 
grown,  grows  only  a  few  short  hairs  on  his  face, 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


37 


his  voice  never  -changes  into  the  deep  bass  tones 
of  a  man,  his  shoulders  remain  drooped  and  round 
like  a  girl,  he  is  dull  and  stupid,  lifeless  and  lazy, 
without  courage  and  snap,  ambition  and  vim,  of  no 
use  to  himself  and  little  service  to  others.  Had 
the  eunuch  been  allowed  to  grow  up  to  perfect  vir¬ 
ile  manhod,  he  would  have  had  a  strong,  well  /devel¬ 
oped  body  and  brilliant  mind,  push  and  enterprise, 
bravery  and  gallantry,  and  all  of  the  other  charac¬ 
teristics  belonging  to  attractive  manhood. 

Why  so  much  namby-pamby,  whishy-washy,  aim¬ 
less,  shiftless,  purposeless,  stunted,  dwarfed,  unam 
bitious,  ne’er-do-well  manhood  in  the  land?  Why 
so  many  young  men  hanging  around  pool-rooms, 
saloons,  gambling  dens  and  brothels,  and  m  few 
graduating  from  our  schools  and  colleges,  making 
a  business  success  and  prominent  in  reform  and 
church  work?  Three-fourths  of  these  conditions 
are  due  to  the  prodigal  waste  of  the  sexual  energy. 

The  sexual  life  in  the  lower  animals  is  not  so 
complex  and  valuable  as  in  man.  In  man  this  sex 
life  is  primarily  and  substantially  related  to  his 
physical,  mental  and  sonl  life.  This  energy  in  the 
lower  animals  does  not  possess  mental  and  moral 
building  materials,  for  the  reason  that  they  do 
not  have  moral  natures,  and  only  a  few  of  the 
higher  forms  have  even  rudimentary  mental  man¬ 
ifestations.  But  this  vital  energy  in  man  is  as  es¬ 
sential  to  his  mental  and  moral  development  as  it 
is  to  the  development  of  his  body.  Heuce  men 


38 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


are  not  only  defective  in  body  because  of  the  dissi¬ 
pation  of  this  energy,  but  they  are  defective  in 
mind  and  morals  as  well. 

The  normal  and  abnormal  creation  and  distri¬ 
bution  of  this  energy  is  very  largely  under  the  con¬ 
trol  of  the  mind.  If  you  have  been  laboring  hard 
for  six  hours  and  come  into  the  presence  of  some 
luscious  fruit  or  a  well-spread  table,  your  mental 
anticipation  of  pleasure  and  satisfaction  in  eating 
the  food  stimulates  the  salivary  glands  and  the 
.saliva  flows  freely.  We  say  that  the  sight  of  food 
causes  our  mouth  to  “water.”  But  it  is  the  mind 
that  excites  the  glands  to  unusual  activity.  Sup¬ 
pose  that  at  this  moment  a  near-by  tree  is  slivered 
bv  lightning  or  tire  Are  alarm'  is  heard.  Your  mind 
is  instantly  and  wholly  withdrawn  from  all 
thought  of  food.  An  hour  later,  when  you  return 
to  the  thought  of  food,  you  find  that  the  salivary 
glands  have  been  secreting  only  enough  saliva  to 
keep  the  mouth  moist.  In  one  hour  of  standing  in 
front  of  tempting  food  and  thinking  about  it,  one 
would  most  likely  secrete  ten  or  even  twenty  times 
as  much  saliva,  as  he  would  if  his  mind  was  other¬ 
wise  engaged.  Just  so,  in  one  hour  of  excited  pas¬ 
sion,  under  the  influence  of  mental  reveling  in  las¬ 
civious  thoughts,  the  sexual  glands  may  secrete 
five,  ten,  or  even  twenty  times  as  much  sexual  en¬ 
ergy  as  they  would  were  the  mind  otherwise  en¬ 
gaged.  The  absorptive  powers  of  the  body  cannot 
take  up  this  surplus  vital  energy  as  you  would 


BElRjFEGT  masnbpood. 


39 


swallow  surplus  saliva.  The  process  of  absorbing 
sexual  life  is  a  slow  and  -gradual  one.  The  ex¬ 
cess  of  energy  produced  by  lascivious  thoughts, 
mental  masturbation,  cannot  be  absorbed  for  hours, 
if  at  all.  This  results  in  a  gorged  condition  of  the 
sexual  system  and  there  is  a  passionate  clamoring 
for  relief.  The  result  will  be  involuntary  emis¬ 
sions,  the  secret  sin,  prostitution,  or  marital  ex¬ 
cess.  It  logically  follows  that  the  proper  control 
of  the  mind  is  the  key  to  the  solution  of  man’s 
sexual  problems. 

Is  a  continent  life  possible  for  a  healthy  young 
man?  Can  he,  like  the  stallion  and  other  male 
animals,  maintain  a  continent  life  during  the  ten 
years  of  his  adolescence,  from  fourteen  to  twenty- 
four,  or  even  longer,  without  weakening  or  losing 
his  virility  It  is  not  an  uncommon  thing  to  find 
young  men  who  believe  that  the  medical  profession 
teaches  that  sexual  gratification  in  the  -single  life 
is  essential  to  physical,  mental  and  sexual  health 
and  to  abstain  from  all  sexual  gratification  will 
•lead  to  -sterility  through  the  non-use  of  the  sexual 
organs.  I  have  a  high  regard  for  the  medical  pro¬ 
fession  and  count  among  them  the  chief  supporters 
of  my  lectures.  There  is  not  one  doctor  in  ten  so 
viciously  immoral  or  stupidly  ignorant  as  to  teach 
this  lie.  Yet,  where  one  doctor  does  teach  this  lie 
to  a  young  man,  with  a  view  to  keeping  up  his 
venereal  practice,  this  young  man  will  tell  twenty 
other  young  men  and  each  of  these  will  tell  twenty 


40 


FEKFBCT  MAiNTTOOI). 


others.  It  is  in  this  way  that  most  young  men 
come  to  believe  the  “sex  necessity  lie.”  The  hon¬ 
orable  physicians  owe  it  to  their  profession  and  to 
the  young  men  of  the  land  to  do  ail  in  their  power 
to  stamp  out  this  infamous  lie. 

The  males  of  the  lower  animals  never  suffer  any 
abatement  of  virility  or  loss  of  physical  powers 
because  of  continence.  We  reason  correctly,  when 
by  analogy,  we  say,  that  the  same  would  be  true 
of  continence  in  man. 

The  breasts  of  a  woman  are  a  part  of  her  sexual 
system.  Suppose  that  she  gives  birth  to  a  child  at 
the  age  of  twenty  and!  nurses  it  in  the  natural  way. 
At  the  age  of  forty  she  becomes  a  mother  the 
second  time  and  nurses  the  child  as  before.  The 
non-use  of  her  breasts  in  nursing  for  nineteen 
years  did  not  destroy  their  material  function. 

Ko  glands  of  man  or  woman  lie  dormant  and  in¬ 
active  during  youth  or  healthy  adult  life.  The 
breasts  of  a  woman  have  a  double  function.  Be¬ 
fore  she  becomes  a  mother  and  between  periods  of 
lactation  or  nursing,  these  glands  are  secreting  an 
internal  energy  that  aids  in  the  attainment  and 
maintainment  of  healthy  and  beautiful  woman¬ 
hood.  As  a  result  of  this  first  and  continual 
function  of  her  breasts  they  are  ever  ready,  at  the 
proper  time,  to  perform  their  second  and  higher 
function  of  lactation. 

Paul  would  never  have  said  to  Timothy,  “Keep 
thyself  pure,”  and  God  would  never  have  con- 


PERFECT  MjAXHOOD. 


41 


denrned  adultery,  if  continence  was  impossible  or 
injurious.  All  laws  governing  the  body,  mind  and 
soul  are  clearly  and  unqualifiedly  in  favor  of  con¬ 
tinence.  From  the  dawning  of  puberty  until  old 
age,  during  healthy  life,  the  testicles  with  the  ac¬ 
cessory  glands  are  performing  their  natural  func¬ 
tion  in  the  attainment  and  maintainment  of  per¬ 
fect  manhood,  by  continuously  secreting  an  inter¬ 
nal  energy  that  is  absorbed  by  the  body, 
and!  at  the  proper  time  are  ready  to  per¬ 
form  perfectly  their  part  in  the  creation  of  a 
neiw  life.  This  is  nature’s  way  of  maintaining  sex¬ 
ual  health  and  strength.  Sterility  results  from  a 
life  of  incontinence  and  not  from'  a  life  of  purity. 

Mentally  and  morally  doctors  rank  well  with 
men  of  other  professions.  All  capable,  scholarly 
and  respectable  doctors  regret  that  they  have  in 
their  profession  those  who  are  so  stupidly  ignorant 
or  morally  depraved  in  matters  of  sex,  as  to  teach 
that  sexual  indulgence  is  a  necessity.  Ho  medical 
college  should  admit  to  her  classes  a  student  who 
is  addicted  to  the  use  of  alcoholic  drink  or  who  is 
known  to  be  immoral  in  life.  The  student  in  a 
medical  college  who  becomes  better  acquainted 
with  the  “red  light”  district  of  the  city  than  he 
does  with  materia  medica,  on  taking  up  his  profes¬ 
sion  in  a  community,  becomes  a  most  deadly 
foe  to  society.  Such  a  young  doctor  will  soon 
drift  into  the  practice  of  venereal  diseases 
and  criminal  abortion.  He  will  soon  be 


42 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


known  as  a  dope  fiend,  drunkard  or  libertine.  But 
he  will  exert  an  influence.  These  are  the  doctors 
that  teach  young  men  to  look  upon  women  as  the 
legitimate  prey  of  their  beastly  passions.  Such 
men  should  not  be  tolerated  in  any  decent  home 
and  the  medical  profession  should  exclude  them. 

Only  a  few  months  ago,  one  of  the  most  gifted, 
polished  and  popular  lecturers  in  the  United  States 
told  me  of  his  experience  with  an  immoral  doctor. 
When  a  young  man  of  twenty-six,  he  found  him¬ 
self  occasionally  hawing  an  involuntary  emission. 
Wholly  ignorant  concerning  matters  of  sex,  though 
a  college  and  university  graduate,  and  filling  the 
pulpit  of  a  wealthy  church,  ashamed  to  go  with 
his  trouble  to  a  local  physician,  he  hunted  up  a 
doctor  in  a  nearby  city.  This  doctor  charged  him 
ten  dollars  for  his  -advice,  a  prescription  and  a  let¬ 
ter  of  introdntion  to  a  neaar-by  house  o*f  prostitu¬ 
tion,  suggesting  that  the  last  was  a  necessity  for 
a  young  man.  Horrified  and  confused  at  this  ad¬ 
vice  he  decided  to  return  and  reveal  his  troubles  to 
a  local  medical  friend,  who  listened  to  his  story 
and  told  him  that  he  was  in  a  perfectly  normal 
condition. 

Young  man,  if  you  should  ever  make  the  mistake 
of  going  to  such  a  doctor  for  advice,  and  he  should 
suggest  sexual  indulgence  as  a  remedy  for  your 
troubles,  say  to  him,  “Dr.,  if  I  had  some  other  ail¬ 
ment  and  you  had  given  me  a  prescription,  and,  at 
the  same  time  you  were  running  a  -drug  store, 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


43 


would/  you  not  appreciate  and  even  expect  me  to 
have  it  filled  at  your  store  ?”  “Certainly,”  would 
be  his  reply.  “Dr.,  your  advice  and  prescription 
for  my  present  trouble  requires  some  man’s  moth¬ 
er,  wife,  sister  or  daughter,  are  you  willing  to  fur¬ 
nish  me  with  the  remedy  you  suggest  ?”  He  would 
become  highly  insulted  and  give  you  to  understand 
that  his  mother,  wife,  sister  and  daughter  are  pure. 
But  you  could  reply,  “Your  advice  requires  some 
man’s  wife,  mother,  sister  or  daughter;  why  not 
yours,  since  you  give  the  advice?”  No  advocate  of 
libertinism;  can  answer  this  argument  in  favor  of 
a  continent  life. 

There  are  men  who  advocate  the  toleration  of 
houses  of  prostitution  to  meet  the  “physical  nec¬ 
essities”  of  men.  They  insist  that  these  houses 
protect  the  pure  girls  and  women  from  the  seduc¬ 
tive  methods  of  men.  The  fact  is,  that,  it  is  the 
men  who  go  to  the  house  of  prostitution,  who  com¬ 
mit  all  of  the  rape  and  seduction.  Pure  men  who 
never  visit  the  fallen  women  are  the  men  who  keep 
themselves  under  control.  The  man  who  pleads 
the  “necessity  lie,”  would  instantly  head  a  mob 
should  his  sister  be  the  victim  of  some  man’s 
“physical  necessity.”  He  advocates  the  theory  as 
long  as  the  other  man  furnishes  the  wife,  sister  or 
daughter. 

The  convincing  test  of  a  man’s  sincerity  who 
advocates  foreign  missions,  is  his  willingness  for 
his  son  or  daughter  to  become  a  foreign  mission- 


44 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


ary.  The  -convincing  test  of  a  man’s  sincerity  who 
advocates  the  necessity  of  public  prostitution  is  his 
willingness  for  his  sister,  daughter  or  wife  to  offer 
her  services  to  protect  the  virtue  of  society.  Why 
should  not  the  officer,  business  or  professional  man 
who  advocates  public  prostitution  be  philanthropic 
enough  to  voluntarily  offer  a  female  member  of 
his  home? 

If  the  social  evil  is  a  necessity  and  the  immoral 
woman  protects  the  virtue  of  our  wives,  daughters 
and  sisters,  why  should  she  be  treated  as  an  out¬ 
cast  ?  Why  should  she  not  be  invited  as  the  guest 
of  honor  at  our  social  functions?  Why  should 
not  prominent  churches  solicit  her  membership, 
invite  her  to  sing  in  the  choir  or  occupy  a  front 
pew?  Certainly  no  advocate  of  the  “necessary 
evil”  would  object.  If  she  is  such  an  inddspensi- 
'ble  public  benefactor,  why  should  she  not  be 
emancipated  from  those  inhuman  parasites — the 
madam,  the  property  owner,  the  pimps  and  the 
officers  who  bleed  her  of  most  of  her  earnings  and 
live  off  her  shame?  All  arguments  offered  in  fa¬ 
vor  of  sex  necessity  are  based  on  established  cus¬ 
tom,  ignorance  of  sex,  avarice  or  lust. 

There  are  a  larger  number  of  men  who  have 
lived  continent  lives  than  immoral  men  -and  im¬ 
moral  doctors  would  admit.  Doctors  of  good  mor¬ 
al  standing  believe  that  at  least  one  out  of  ten  men 
have  lived  continent  lives.  Many  young  men  who 
live  pure  lives,  do  not  speak  of  it  for  the  reason 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


45 


that  other  young  men  delight  in  ridiculing  the  idea 
of  a  .pure  life.  Wherever  I  lecture,  some  men  pri¬ 
vately  speak  to.  me  of  their  having  lived  a  pure 
life.  'Organizations  of  young  men,  who  have 
pledged!  themselves  to  as  pure  a  life  as  they  expect 
the  girls  to  live,  whom  they  hope  one  day  to  avow 
as  the  queens  of  their  home,  are  becoming  common 
in  many  countries  and  states. 

The  sexual  organs  generate  vital  energy.  Thi3 
energy'’  is  primarily  a  part  of  man’s  psychic  life. 
This  energy  can  be  disposed  of  in  four  distinct 
ways.  By  systematic  regular  exercise  this  energy 
will  be  taken  up  by  the  muscles  and  converted  into 
physical  strength.  All  'the  trainers  of  athletes  and 
pugilists  understand  this  law.  Great  physical 
strength  and)  endurance  will  result  from  the  con¬ 
servation  of  this  energy.  Many,  men,  who  have 
physical  defects,  would  receive  great  benefits  and 
a  prolonged  life,  if  they  would  follow  this  in¬ 
struction. 

By  habitual  thinking  and  reading  along  normal 
lines  this  energy  will  be  utilized  by  the  mind  and 
produce  intellectual  brilliancy.  All  thoughtful 
teachers  know  that  pupils  who  dissipate  this  ener¬ 
gy  do  not  succeed  well  in  their  classes.  All  origi¬ 
nal  thinkers  have  a  strong  sexual  nature.  Intellec¬ 
tual  eminence  is  impossible  among  those  who 
waste  this  energy.  If  all  young  men  knew  and 
practiced!  this  law,  they  would  rapidly  improve 
their  mental  powers,  and  this  would  increase  their 


46 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


capacity  for  service  and  result  in  larger  remunera¬ 
tion. 

By  habitual  loving,  sympathizing  with  and  help¬ 
ing  others,  this  energy  will  aid  in  developing  the 
finer  feelings,  emotions  and  sentiments.  It  is  the 
expression  of  this  energy  that  brings  young  people 
together  in  courtship,  leads  to  a  happy  marriage, 
blends  their  individualities,  harmonizes  their  dif¬ 
ferences  and  makes  them  one.  Without  this  en¬ 
ergy  these  sacred  experiences  would  be  impossible. 
Where  37oung  people  have  lived  continent  lives, 
tires e  experiences  have  been  most  ideal.  Under  the 
false  training  received  in  the  past,  most  young  peo¬ 
ple  have  gotten  the  idea  that  love  in  marriage  is  in¬ 
separable  from  sexual  gratification,  and,  the  more 
frequent,  the  happier  the  couple.  This  is  absolute¬ 
ly  unscientific.  The  wasting  of  the  sexual  life 
before  and  after  marriage  is  responsible  for  more 
divorces  than  all  other  causes  combined.  In  the 
past  twelve  months  I  have  brought  three  inhar¬ 
monious  couples,  who  were  seeking  divorce,  back 
to  marital  harmony  and  happiness.  In  each  case 
the  parties  confessed  to  sexual  prodigality,  saw 
their  error,  begged  each  other’s  forgiveness,  pledg¬ 
ed  sexual  temperance  and  renewed  their  vows. 
They  are  happy  today.  Without  the  sexual  life, 
the  love-life  of  courtship  and  marriage  would  be 
utterly  impossible.  This  being  self-evident  it  fol¬ 
lows  that  the  prodigal  waste  of  this  energy  destroys 
the  very  basis  of  love. 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


47 


This  energy  is  converted  into  physical  strength, 
when  retained!  in  the  body  andl  directed  to  the 
muscles  by  their  proper  exercise.  This  energy  is 
converted  into  intellectual  brilliancy,  when  retain¬ 
ed  in  the  body  and  directed  to  the  mind  by  proper 
mental  exercise.  This  energy  is  converted  into  sym¬ 
pathy,  sentiment,  feeling  and  love,  when  retained 
in  the  body  and  directed  to  the  emotional  nature 
by  the  exercise  of  the  moral  powers.  Would  you 
have  a  strong  body,  a  brilliant  mind  and  a  glow¬ 
ing,  warm  and  loving  nature?  Then  you  have  be¬ 
fore  you  the  way  of  attainment.  Would  you  en¬ 
joy  this  ideal  life  for  many  years  ?  Then  you  have 
before  you  the  way  of  maintainment. 

As  additional  evidence  that  sex  is  essentially  a 
part  of  man’s  physical,  mental  and  moral  life,  a 
child  when  carefully  studied  will  reveal  resem¬ 
blances  physically,  mentally  and  morally  to  both 
of  its  .parents.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
sperm  cell  of  the  father  and  the  germ'  cell  of  the 
mother,  being  formed  from  their  blood,  received 
from  them  its  three  fold  life.  Then  there  is  phys¬ 
ical,  mental,  and  moral  life  in  these  procreative 
cells. 

If  a  man  is  impure  in  mind  and  habits,  he  will 
form  many  thousand  sperm  cells  that  will,  in  some 
way,  be  expelled  from  his  body.  In  this  way  the 
attainment  and  maintainment  of  perfect  manhood 
will  be  defeated.  If  he  keeps  his  mind  pure,  takes 
plenty  of  physical  and  mental  exercise  this  vital 


48 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


energy  will  'be  retained  and  distributed  to  all  parts 
of  his  being. 

All  material  evolutionists  explain  the  resemb¬ 
lance  of  a  child  to  its  parents  on  the  ground  that 
the  procreative  cells  had  in  them  a  representative 
particle  from  every  atom  in  the  respective  parent’s 
bodies.  That  is,  the  child  resembles  the  father 
because  the  sperm,  cell  had  in  it  a  representative 
particle  from  every  atom  in  his  skin,  muscle, 
nerves,  blood  and  bone.  For  the  same  reason  the 
child  resembles  the  mother.  From  this  explana¬ 
tion  of  materialism  you  will  see  that  they  make 
sex  essentially  a  part  of  the  physical  organism. 
My  position  is  that  sex  is  primarily  and  essentially 
a  part  of  ones  physical,  mental  and  moral  life. 

Apply  this  simple  test  to  the  theoory  that  sex 
is  a  part  of  each  atom  of  the  body,  and  insepara¬ 
ble  from  them.  Here  is  a  child,  the  initial  of 
whose  life  took  place  twenty  years  after  both  par¬ 
ents  had  their  right  arms  amputated.  Will  the 
child  have  a  right  arm?  It  cannot,  if  mater¬ 
ialism  is  true.  It  requires  only  a  very  brief  period 
for  these  cells  to  be  fully  organized  from  the  blood. 
It  would  be  absolutely  impossible  for  these  cells 
to  have  in  them  representative  particles  from 
every  atom  of  the  amputated  arms  of  the  respec¬ 
tive  parents.  Twenty  years  before  the  initial  of 
a  child;;s  life,  let  its  parents  lose  their  upper  and 
lower  limbs  , teeth  and  tongue,  nose,  ears  and  eyes 
and  all  other  organs  not  essential  to  life  and  re- 


BEKFEICT  MlAiNHIOOD. 


49 


production.  The  child  horn  under  these  condi¬ 
tions  will  have  all  of  these  organs.  Why?  Be¬ 
cause  the  physical  life  of  each  parent  remained  a 
unite.  )Sex  (being  primarily  related  to  life,  and 
the  physical  life  of  each  parent  being  a  unit  they 
were  able  to  produce  procreative  cells  that  were 
normal.  The  union  o-f  these  cells  resulted  in  a 
unit  of  embrionic  physical  life,  which,  during  ges¬ 
tation,  was  clothed  with  a  unit  of  physical  organ¬ 
ism. 

The  unit  of  mind  life  functioning  through  the 
different  lobes  of  the  brain  result  in  the  phe¬ 
nomenon  of  thought,  judgment,  memory,  etc. 
Twenty  years  before  the  initial  of  a  child’s  life 
both  parents  lost  the  particular  lobe  through 
which  the  mind  functioned  as  memory.  They  are 
unable  to  recall  any  past  event..  But  the  child 
has  this  particular  lobe  and  the  function  of  mem¬ 
ory.  Why?  Because  the  mental  life  of  the  par¬ 
ents  remained  a  unit.  'Sex  being  essentially  a  part 
of  the  mind  life,  the  parents  were  able  to  produce 
procreative  cells  that  were  normal..  The  union 
of  these  cells  resulted  in  a  unit  of  embrionic  mind 
life,  which  during  gestation,  was  clothed  with  a 
unit  of  brain  organism: 

The  same  laws  apply  to  the  moral  life.  From 
these  illustrations  we  find  that  the  sexual  organs 
are  human  dinamos,  generating  vital  energy  that 
can  be  directed  under  a  pure  mind  to  the  body, 
producing  physical  strength  and  health  to  the 


50 


PERFECT  MANHOOD 


brain,  producing  intellectual  brilliancy  to  the  emo¬ 
tions,  feelings  and  sentiments,  resulting  in  warmth 
and  eagerness  of  soul. 

If  you.  ground  the  wire  leading  from  the  dyna¬ 
mo,  the  street  car  stops,  the  city  is  left  in  darkness, 
and  the  red-hot  wire  becomes  cold.  If  this  energy 
generated  by  the  dynamo  of  man’s  sexual  system  is 
grounded,  his  physical  machinery  stops,  'his  men¬ 
tal  light  grows  dim  and  his  heart  grows  cold. 

If  man  would  direct  this  energy  to  his  body, 
mind  or  moral  nature,  or  all  of  them,  and  build 
and  maintain  perfect  manhood,  he  must  bring  his 
mind  under  perfect  control.  This  will  be  his  hard¬ 
est  and  longest  battle.  Man  is  fallen.  He  has  in¬ 
herited  strong  tendencies  toward  lascivious  think¬ 
ing  and  living.  He  has  received  a  false  education 
in  matters  of  sex  that  adds  fire  to  his  unfortunate 
heredity.  Left  to  himself  the  odds  appear  against 
him.  Is  there  any  available  help  aside  from  his 
own  personal  resources  ?  Yes.  Nineteen  centuries 
ago  J esus,  the  perfect  man,  the  ideal  of  the  Father, 
enterd  the  arena  of  human  life  and  heralded  that 
inspiring  matchless  statement,  “I  am  the  way,  the 
truth,  the  life.”  Accept  him  in  regeneration  and 
you  -will  be  in  the  way,  you  will  come  to  know  the 
truth  and  to  possess  the  life  that  leads  to  the 
knighthood  of  the  twentieth  century.  It  is  a  high¬ 
er  honor  to  wear  the  crown  of  perfect  manhood 
than  to  fill  the  mission  of  an  angel. 


PERFECT  MANHOOD 


51 


CHAPTER  III. 

HOW  MANHOOD  IS  WRECKED. 


From  the  study  of  man  in  relation  to  the  world 
about  him, from  the  study  of  man  in  relation  to  his 
physical,  mental  and  moral  capacities,  and  from 
the  study  of  the  Bible,  we  see  what  God  intended 
perfect  manhood  to  be.  In  sacred  and  profane  his¬ 
tory  we  find  some  noble  specimens  of  manhood. 
On  the  farm  and  in  the  shops,  behind  the  counter 
and  the  bar,  in  Congress  and  the  Senate,  on  the 
platform  and  in  the  pulpit, we  find  today  men  who, 
by  inheritance  and  living  in  harmony  with  God’s 
moral  and  natural  laws,  or  'by  his  regenerating 
grace,  are  examples  of  true  manhood.  But  look  at 
humanity  in  the  mass;  'How  few.  examples  of 
perfect  manhood  do  you  'find  in  any  community  of 
five  thousand  people.  Look  at  the  enervated  and 
stunted  fathers;  the  nervous  and  sickly  mothers; 
the  puny  and  weak  children;  the  lustful  sons  and 
fallen  daughters;  the  poorly  developed  bodies  and 
dwarfed  minds  !  'Why  should  one  half  of  the  chil¬ 
dren  die  before  they  are  five  years  old  ?  Why  are 
eixty-five  per  cent  of  our  children  defective  at  their 
birth?  Why  the  aimless^urposeless, shiftless, ne’er- 
do-well  men  and  women?  Why  this  deteriorated 
manhood?  The  causes  are  numerous.  Most  peo¬ 
ple  are  ignorant  of  their  anatomy  and  physiology, 


Wiversit 

ilUN0is  Ur 


52 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


and  many  know  little  about  the  essential  laws  of 
health.  Many  live  in  unappeased  hunger,  and  some 
are  improperly  fed.  'Whiskey,  tobacco,  opium  and 
morphine  are  all  doing  their  part  in  wrecking  man¬ 
hood.  But  the  most  prolific  cause  of  all  of  the 
phases  -of  blighted  manhood  is  the  sin  of  sensuality. 
Contrast  the  average  mlan  with  the  males  of  the 
lower  animals — the  'stallion,  the  bull,  the  male  lion 
and  tiger.  -What  dignity,  pride,  elastic  bearing  and 
majesty  l  They  are  not  the  victims  of  sexual 
abuse.  Instinctively  they  conserve  their  sexual 
powers. 

India’s  custom  of  compelling  girls  to  be  married 
at  twelve  ,not  later  than  thirteen;  boys  at  fourteen, 
not  later  than  fifteen;  and  the  consequent  misap¬ 
plication  of  sexual  life,  has  resulted  in  the  sacrifice 
of  the  manhood  and  womanhood  of  India.  India 
has  no  great  men. 

A  century  and  a  -half  of  unbridled  lust  in  France 
is  now  producing  a  harvest  of  stunted,  dwarfed 
and  ugly  men.  Twice  she  has  reduced  her  stand¬ 
ard  of  height  for  her  soldiers  in  a  century.  Could 
FTapoleon  Bonaparte  come  from1  the  grave  and  be 
commissioned  to  raise  an  army  of  500,000  men 
such  as  he  once  conquered  nations  with,  he  could 
not  find  in  all  of  France  25,000  men  that  would 
have  the  physical  statue  and  endurance  of  the 
Frenchmen  of  his  day.  Purity  is  unknown  among 
her  men  and  is  questioned  among  most  of  her  wo¬ 
men.  Her  death  rate  is  appallingly  ahead  of  her 


*  •  » « 


FEfRlFEiCT  MANHOOD. 


53 


•birth  rate.  In  1902  her  birth  rate  exceeded  her 
d'eath  rate  by  72,000.  In  190>7  her  death  rate 
exceeded  her  birth  rate  by  22,000.  She  has  more 
childless  homes  than  any  other  nation.  She  has 
cities  and!  towns  that  are  so  venerealized  that  the 
medical  world  cannot  prevent  them'  from  rotting 
from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Had  a  lecturer  travel¬ 
ed  over  France  a  half  century  ago  predicting  her 
present  conditions,  he  would  have  been  considered 
a  fanatic.  The  present  and  future  of  France  have 
been  sacrificed!  by  a  century  and  a  half  of  lust.  As 
a  nation  she  has  sealed  her  own  doom  and  fore¬ 
casted  her  own  destiny.  All  history  proves  that 
national  deterioration  and  final  ruin  follow  in  the 
wake  of  sensuality.  Unless  parents,  pulpits,  plat¬ 
form,  press,  church  and!  legislatures  awake  to  our 
imminent  danger,  wre  too,  will  be  consigned  to  a 
like  oblivion. 

I.  CAUSES  OF  SENSUALITY. 

1.  Bad  Heredity.  One  of  the  most  prolific 
causes  of  sensuality  is  bad  heredity.  Most  chil¬ 
dren  in  the  past  wure  the  results  of  uncontrolled 
desire.  Because  of  ignorance  and  a  lack  of  self- 
control  on  the  part  of  parents,  few  children  have 
been  protected  against  lascivious  influences  during 
their  prenatal  life. 

2.  Narcotics  and  Stimulants.  These  are  the 
parents  of  lust.  Nicotine  and  alcohol  taken  in 
the  blood  awaken  passion.  Men  who  are  addicted 
to  these  habits  are  more  lascivious  than  men  who 


i 


( 


54 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


are  free  from  them',  The  use  of  the  cigarette  by 
small  boys  often  hastens  the  approach  of  puberty 
a  few  months.  This  is  due  to  the  awakening  of 
sex  consciousness.  It  leads  to  the  formation  of 
sexual  energy  before  the  system  is  ready  to  absorb 
it.  This  leads  to  an  early  waste  of  this  energy  and 
results  in  stunted,  dwarfed  and  lustful  men. 

Dr.  G-unn  says,  “Tobacco  has  spoiled  and  utter¬ 
ly  ruined  thousands  of  boys,  inducing  a  dangerous 
precocity,  developing  the  passions,  softening  and 
weakening  the  bones,  greatly  injuring  the  spinal 
marrow,  the  brain  and  the  whole  nervous  fluid.” 

The  ease  with  which  a  number  of  social  smok¬ 
ers  will  drift  into  obscene  conversation  is  very 
noticeable.  Eminent  doctors  in  Prance  tell  us 
that  there  are  more  inveterate  tobacco  users  in 
Prance  than  in  any  other  civilized  nation  and  that 
many  of  these  men  are  sterile.  They  attribute  the 
■  falling  off  in  the  birth  rate  to  be  partly  due  to  the 
excessive  use  of  tobacco. 

What  has  been  said  of  the  effects  of  tobacco  can 
be  said  with  greater  emphasis  in  regard  to  the  ef¬ 
fects  of  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks.  Find  where 
whiskey  is  sold  and  they  can  direct  you  to  the 
house  of  prostitution;  find  the  fallen  woman  and 
she  'can  direct  you  to  the  saloon  or  the  blind  tiger. 
There  is  an  inseparable  bond  between  drink  and 
lust.  No  man  can  live  a  pure  life  and  habitually 
use  alcoholic  dfrink.  Narcotics  and  stimulants  have 
other  evil  effects  aside  from  stimulating  lust. 


PERFECT  MJA/NB0(0)D. 


55 


They  are  certainly  undermining  the  manhood'  of 
this  age. 

3.  Lascivious  Thoughts  and  Conversation. 
Impure  thoughts  are  responsible  for  much  of 
man’s  sensuality.  Passion  is,  perhaps,  impossi¬ 
ble  without  the  aid  of  the  mind.  Cold  water 
allays  passion.  Yet,  passion  may  be  aroused 
while  the  private  organs  are  in  fairly  cold  water. 
In  a  high  state  of  sexual  excitement,  desire  will 
instantly  subside,  if  the  mind  is  suddenly  and 
wholly  withdrawn  from  all  sexual  thought. 
Semen  is  formed  rapidly  when  a  high  state  of 
passion  is  maintained  by  the  mind.  Under  such 
conditions  there  may  be  secreted  as  much  of  this 
energy  in  one  hour  as  would  be  in  many  days  of 
pure  thought.  You  can  now  see  why  a  man  who 
thinks  of  sensual  things  is  sensual.  “As  he 
thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he.”  Multitudes  of 
men  and  boys  spend  much  of  their  life  reveling  in 
impure  thoughts,  imaginations  and  wishes. 
Thus,  their  seminal  vesicles,  ampullae  and  ducts 
are  constantly  gorged  with  semen  that  should  nev¬ 
er  have  been  taken  from  the  blood,  and  which  the 
system  can  not  reabsorb.  It  is  possible  that  lasciv¬ 
ious  thoughts  are  more  responsible  for  sensuality 
than  sensual  acts,  because  sensual  acts  grow  out 
of  sensual  thoughts.  Most  men  who  engage  in 
sensual  thoughts  do  so  without  the  slightest 
knowledge  of  its  results  upon  their  sexual  System.. 
It  is  the  first  step  toward  all  sexual  abuse, 


56 


PERFECT  MMTH100D. 


Vulgarity  and  impure  thought  are  inseparable; 
the  one  grows  out  of  the  other.  In  a  western  town 
a  friend  called  my  attention  to  a  man  past  middle 
life  sitting  on  a  good’s  'box.  My  friend  then  told 
me  how  this  man  spent  his  time,  with  other  men 
of  his  type,  discussing  the  ladies  who  passed  by 
them.  'One  day  a  young  lady  was  crossing  the 
street  from  the  opposite  side  in  a  very  stiff  breeze. 
This  man  with  his  friend  watched  the  form  of  the 
girl  as  the  wind  blew  her  skirts  close  about  her 
limbs,  and  he  made  some  lustful  remark  to  his 
friend.  Stepping  up  to  where  they  were,  she  said, 
“Papa,  were  you  speaking  to  me?/’  When  she 
was  gone,  her  father  said,  “I  ought  to  be  hung.” 
For  the  sake  of  vulnerable  boys,  innocent  girls, 
respectable  women  and  the  good  of  society  at  large, 
there  should  be  some  form  of  punishment  for  this 
class  of  men. 

To  the  invitation,  “Dome  and  hear  my  lecture,” 
a  burly  blacksmith  replied,  '“You  are  going  to 
teach  men  how  to  have  pure  thoughts  about  wo¬ 
men,  are  you  ?”  I  asked  him  if  he  were  guilty  of 
impure  thoughts.  He  quickly  replied,  “'Why,  yes, 
all  men  are.”  I  then  inquired  of  him  if  he  had  a 
mother,  or  sister.  “Yes,”  was  his  sharp  reply: 
Then  I  said,  “Suppose  you  and  a  dozen  of  the  most 
lustful  young  men  of  your  town  should  be  one  day 
standing  on  your  sidewalk,  and  your  daughter,  at¬ 
tractively  dressed,  while  passing,  bows  pleasantly 
to  her  young  gentlemen  friends  and  familiarly  to 


PElRiFElCT  MANHOOD. 


57 


papa ;  how  would  you  feel  toward  those  young  men, 
if  you  had1  the  power  to  look  into  their  hearts 
and  should  see  imaginary  nude  pictures  of  your 
daughter  therein,  and  should  know  that  they  were 
guilty  of  /the  vilest  sins  with  her  in  their  intensest 
desires  ?”  “I  would!  kill  them,”  was  -his  instinctive 
and  ready  answer.  '“Would  you  kill  them  for  that 
of  which  you  are  confessedly  guilty  ?”  I  asked. 
“But  it  would  be  my  daughter,”  was  his  prompt 
response.  Then  I  explained  to  him  that  the  wo¬ 
men  about  whom  he  had  impure  thoughts  were 
some  men’s  wives,  mothers,  daughters  or  sisters, 
and  advised  him  to  look  upon  the  daughters  of 
other  men  as  he  did  upon  his  own.  With  a  hearty 
hand-shake,  he  promised  me  that  he  would  try  to 
be  pure  in  his  thoughts. 

4.  Modern  Dance.  Here  is  the  attitude  of  the 
modern  round  dance  as  given  by  a  noted  ex-danc¬ 
ing  master.  The  young  lady  places  her  head 
against  the  left  shoulder  of  the  young  man.  He 
encircles  her  -waist  with  his  right  arm  and  hand. 
She  places  her  right  hand  in  his  left.  He  places 
his  foot,  sometimes  his  limb,  between  hers.  Now 
add  to  this  that  most  young  women  wear  a  special 
gind  of  dress  for  the  occasion  which  leaves  their 
arms,  shoulders  and  as  much  of  their  bosom  ex¬ 
posed  as  will  not  embarrass  his  vision  of  her  heav¬ 
ing  .breasts.  Do  you  tell  me  that  healthy,  well- 
sexed  young  people  can  come  together  in  this  way 
and  yet  remain  pure  in  thought?  You  can’t  con- 


58 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


ceive  of  a  much  greater  difficulty.  I  do  not,  on 
this  occasion,  condemn  the  dance  as  a  minister,  or 
from  the  standpoint  of  scriptural  ethics;  but  from 
a  reasonable  knowledge  of  medical  science  on  this 
point,  and  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  sex,  I  do 
assert  and  will  attempt  to  prove  that  the  modern 
dance  is  exceedingly  sensual. 

Every  healthy,  manly  man  knows  that  passion 
is  hard  enough  to  control  when  there  are  only  or¬ 
dinary  temptations  to  combat.  The  embrace  of 
the  modern  dance  is  strikingly  suggestive  of  the 
sexual  act.  It  is  night,  no  moral  or  religious 
restraints,  quick  music  and  corresponding  move¬ 
ments,  wine  and!  other  drinks.  Here  the  worst 
libertines  are  admitted  to  a  social  level  with  others, 
the  sensual  embrace  with  the  pressure  of  the  waist, 
squeezing  of  the  hand,  suggestive  glances  of  the 
eye  all  conspire  to  excite  the  passions.  It  is  utter¬ 
ly  futile  to  argue  that  the  passions  are  not  aroused 
in  the  dance.  Most  fallen  women  testify  that  their 
first  step  toward  an  outcast  life  was  taken  in  the 
dance.  In  several  of  my  meetings,  I  have  made 
it  a  point  to  ascertain  if  the  fallen  girls  and  wo¬ 
men  did  not  dance  before  their  fall.  I  do  not  re¬ 
member  to  have  found  an  exception  to  this  rule. 
Woman’s  moral  strength  to  resist  the  approaches 
and  overtures  of  designing  men  is  measured  by  her 
resolute  purpose  to  keep  men  at  arm’s  distance. 
No  true  woman  can  voluntarily  yield  her  body  into 
the  embrace  of  a  man,  not  her  father,  husband  or 
with  a  woman. 


PERH0OT  MAjNtBDOiODo 


59 


brother,  without  a  severe  shock  to  her  .sense  of 
modesty.  True,  she  may  dull  the  fine  edge  of  her 
delicate  .sensibilities  until  she  enjoys  the  dance 
and  yet  not  fall  as  to  her  outward  life.  But  it  is 
perfectly  unnatural  for  her  to  be  intensely  fond  of 
the  dance  without  having  her  sexual  nature  arous¬ 
ed.  (She  may  not  be  fully  aware  that  this  pleasant 
feeling  in  the  dance  comes  from'  her  aroused  sex¬ 
ual  nature,  and  she  may  be  entirely  ignorant  of 
what  the  results  in  her  own  body  will  be;  but  her 
ignorance  will  not  keep  her  from  reaping  the  har¬ 
vest.  Suppose  she  does  not  fall.  If  she  responds 
in  her  sexual  nature,  as  she  surely  will  if  $he  loves 
the  dance,  she  will  become  sensual  in  her  thoughts. 
Her  female  organs  being  inflamed  with  passion  for 
hours  will  result  in  a  diseased  condition.  When 
a  woman’s  passions  are  stirred^  she  has  a  flow  of 
mucous,  and  her  delicate  nervous  system,  is  in  a 
strain.  This  may  lead  to  a  Chronic  wasting  of  this 
mucous,  a  condition  called  “whites.”  “Girls,  like 
boys,  when  their  passions  are  constantly  aroused  by 
evil  thoughts,  easily  fall  into  the  secret  sin.  You 
have  heard  that  dancing  among  women  leads  to 
consumption  and  heart  failure.  The  mere  physi¬ 
cal  exercise  of  the  dance,  would  be  preventive, 
rather  than  a  cause,  of  these  and  other  diseases. 
But  dancing  leads  to  sensuality  and  this  leadis  to 
the  'secret  sin,  or  to  mental  masturbation. 

I  once  overheard  a  group  of  dancing  young  men 
Bay  that  they  were  going  to  quit  dancing  for 


60 


PERFECT  MlAiNOGO®. 


awhile,  as  they  had  such  bodily  lassitude  and  men¬ 
tal  sluggishness  .that  they  were  unable  to  do  any¬ 
thing.  Why  was  this?  I  will  tell  you.  From 
fiye  hours  of  dancing  with  young  ladies,  with  pas¬ 
sions  inflamed,  they  had  secreted  nightly  more 
semen  than  would  have  been  done  in  two  weeks  of 
pure  thought.  This1  gorged  the  seminal  cavities 
until  relief  was  repeatedly  found1  in  the  -secret  sin, 
fornication,  or  possibly,  not  likely,  with  this  class, 
in  seminal  emissions.  The  great  Daniel  Webster 
was  once  asked  by  a  trim  diandy,  why  he  did  not 
dance.  He  replied:  “I  have  neither  the  time  nor 
the  ambition  to  learn  the  ant.”  Perfect  manhood 
and  womanhood  would  be  strange  (freaks  of  nature 
were  they  found  in  the  modem  dance. 

5.  Kissing  Games.  Kissing  games  among  lit¬ 
tle  boys  and  girls  and  young  men  and  women  are 
not  only  tolerated,  but  often  encouraged,  by  silly 
old  folks.  They  should  know,  and  must  know,  if 
they  will  only  stop  to  think,  that  the  lips,  like  the 
breast,  are  secondary  sexual  characteristics.  Hence* 
passion  is  easily  aroused  by  the  kissing  otf  the  sexes. 
In  the  west,  a  young  man  nearly  dead  with  con¬ 
sumption,  loss  of  memory,  weak  hack  and  dyspep¬ 
sia  said,  “Wdren  I  was  a  boy  seven  years  old,  I  was 
a  constant  visitor  at  the  home  of  a  banker  in  my 
town  in  Tennessee.  My  father  was  a  wealthy  mer¬ 
chant.  The  banker’s  daughter  and  I  were  child¬ 
hood  lovers.  Our  parents  encouraged  our  embraces 
and  kissing,  and  often  remarked  that  we  would1 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


61 


marry  some  day.  When  I  was  eleven  and  she 
thirteen,  we  were  daily  practicing  formication. 
This  we  have  continued!  for  the  past  nine  years. 
Our  parents  perhaps  never  (have  suspected  our 
guilt.  We  are  not  married  and  will  never  be.  Your 
lecture  was  a  true  diagnosis  of  my  afflictions.” 
Childhood  courtship,  indefinitely  prolonged,  rare¬ 
ly  ever  terminates  (well.  Parents  who  are  careless 
and  thoughtless  about  the  company  they  keep  and 
about  their  love  relations,  need!  not  expect  their 
children  to  attain  perfect  manhood  and  woman¬ 
hood. 

6.  Theatre.  The  modem  stage  is,  by  no  means, 
a  small  factor  in  some  communities  in  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  sensuality.  How  can  a  healthy  man  sit 
for  hours  and  be  entertained  by  semi-nude  actress¬ 
es,  who,  before  the  electric  foot-lights,  engage  in 
knee-dress  dancing  and  other  performances,  such 
as  degrade  their  sex,  and  remain  pure  in  'his 
thoughts?  These  women  are  nearly  all  loose  in 
their  morals.  Al  doctor,  in  whose  home  I  was 
stopping,  told  m!e  that  he  was  treating  three  young 
men  for  venereal  diseases,  and  they  reported  that 
two  others  were  being  treated  by  another  doctor, 
and  all  five  were  infected  in  one  night  by  an  ac¬ 
tress,  after  she  had  so  royally  entertained'  some  of 
the  worldly  church  members  and  the  common 
Sinners. 

7.  Improperly  Dressed  Women  and  SemibbTude 
Female  Pictures.  Talmage  once  said,  “1  believe 


»  j 


62 


PERFECT  MtAJSTHOlOD. 


thlat  there  are  literally  thousands  of  men  in  Fell, 
whose  eternal  damnation  is  due  to  the  improper 
dress  of  women/'’  Strong,  but  no  doubt  true.  I 
have  lived  a  continent  life  and  have  tried  hard  to 
keep  the  demon  of  sensuality  from  breathing  his 
whispers  in  the  ears  of  my  soul.  As  a  husband, 
father,  educator  and  minister,  I  pledge  you  my 
honor  that  the  'greatest  trials,  the  sorest  tempta¬ 
tions,  I  have  ever  met  have  come  from  improperly 
dressed  women  and  semi-nude  pictures.  A  mother, 
with  a  fully  exposed  breast,  nursing  a  sweet  little 
'baby  is  not  a  temptation  to  any  natural  man.  But 
the  partially- concealed  charms  of  a  well-formed 
woman,  no  well-sexed  man  can  look  upon,  admire, 
think  about  and  remain  untempted.  I  have  told 
my  wife  that  when  our  little  girls  are  twelve  years 
old,  papa  will  continue  to  buy  their  clothing,  pro¬ 
vided  they  will  dress  up  'to  thteir  necks.  But  I  don’t 
want  a  lot  of  animal  men  pasturing  on  the  neg¬ 
lected  'and  unfenced  territory  of  my  family.  Again, 
my  wife  and  little  girls  shall  not  be  the  willful 
cause  of  my  fellow-men  going  to  the  hell  of  sen¬ 
suality,  if  I  oan  help  it.  No  semi-nude  picture 
finds  a  place  on  the  walls  of  my  home,  or  tin  our 
album. 

For  twenty  years  I  have  wondered  why  the  pure 
women  of  this  country  do  not  petition  the  legis¬ 
latures  to  pass  laws  forbidding  the  use  of  partially 
dressed  female  pictures  for  advertising  purposes. 
This  form  oif  advertising  is  quite  a  fad  among  the 


PERFECT  MAMKQO'D. 


63 


tobacco,  circus,  theatre  and  whisky  firms.  Go  into 
places  frequented  largely  or  only  iby  men,  and 
you  will  find  the  most  suggestive  female  pictures. 
The  style  of  pictures  in  a  young  man’s  possession 
is  a  fair  index  to  his  character.  In  my  lectures  I 
have  (sometimes  said,  “I  make  my  appeal  to  you 
men.  I  want  only  your  'honest  verdict.  Is  it  your 
experience  'and  observation  that  improperly  dressed 
women  and  semi-nude  female  pictures  arouse  pas¬ 
sion  in  you  and  others  ?  If  I  am1  correct,  and  your 
opinion  accords  with  mine,  let  it  be  known  by  lift¬ 
ing  your  hands  (hands  go  up  all  over  the  house) . 
I  wish  the  women  of  America  could  see  this  ver¬ 
dict.  Our  women  have  been  following  the  sensual 
fashions  of  France  long  enough.” 

8.  Masturbation.  Another  cause  of  the  over 
development  of  man’s  sexual  nature,  and  the  lead¬ 
ing  cause  of  wrecked  manhood,  is  the  early  prac¬ 
tice  of  masturbation.  The  nature  of  this  sin  is  too 
well  known  to  require  (much  description.  It  is 
•called  self-abuse,  self-pollution,  or  the  ‘secret  sin, 
and  consists  in  exciting  the  private  organs  by 
means  of  the  hand.  Physicians  declare  this  sin  to 
be  almost  universal.  Authors  of  reliable  works 
on  the  subject  estimate  that  90  to  96  per  cent  of 
the  males  at  some  some  in  life,  and  to  some  extent, 
practice  this  sin.  It  is  but  fair  to  state  that  this 
habit  is  indulged  in  by  boys  who  are  totally  ignor¬ 
ant  of  its  sinfulness  and  its  fearful  consequences. 
[Bovs  may  'begin  this  sin  when  they  are  five  or  six 


64 


FEKfFKCT  MIANHOOlD. 


yelars  old,  often;  at  eight  or  ten',  and  in  most  eases 
before  the  age  of  puberty,  which  is  about  the  four¬ 
teenth  year.  While,  at  this  age  there  is  no  semen 
to  lose,  the  nervous  spasm  which  may,  and  often 
does  take  place,  is  injurious  to  the  child. 

In  most  cases  the  sin  is  taught  the  child'  /by  a 
schoolmate,  wicked  servant,  and  sometimes  by  a 
much  Older  person.  At  least  one-fourth  of  the 
males  have  an  abnormally  long  prepuce  or  foreskin 
that  should  have  been  removed  by  circumcision  in 
infancy.  Many  eminent  doctors  advise  that  all 
male  babies  be  circumcised  when  a  week  or  ten 
days  old.  The  Jews  all  practice  this  (hygienic  pre- 
caution  against  masturbation  in  after  life.  It  is 
claimed1  that  few  Jewish  boys  ever  practice  this 
sin.  They  are  known  as  a  healthy  nation,  and  it 
is  claimed  that  their  average  life  is  some  ten  years 
longer  than  the  Gentile  American.  The  secretions 
that  acumulate  under  the  folds  of  the  prepuce 
produce  irritation.  To  relieve  this,  the  boy  will 
naturally  resort  to  scratching  the  parts.  In  this 
way  a  sense  of  sexual  pleasure  will  be  aroused.  To 
keep  up  this  feeling  of  pleasure,  the  boy  continues 
to  handle  the  organs.  In  this  way  many  boys  have 
discovered  the  secret  sin.  It  is  doubtful  if  one  boy 
in  a  thousand  with'  a  long  prepuce  can  escape  this 
sin.  When  the  prepuce  is  removed  by  circumcis¬ 
ion,  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  gland  penis  be¬ 
comes  the  true  skin.  Passion  aroused  by  the  glid¬ 
ing  of  the  prepuce  over  the  gland  penis,  and  irri- 


RHEIHEiCT  -MAN'HlOlOiD. 


65 


tation  due  to  the  accumulation  and)  hardening  of 
the  secretions,  is  thus  avoidied1.  This  is  all  the  evi¬ 
dence  one  needs  to  enable  him  to  see  the  value  of 
circumcision. 

Conservative  doctors  tell  us  that  one  drop  of 
semen  is  as  valuable  in  nourishing  the  body,  nerves 
and  brain  as  twenty  <drops  of  the  purest  blood. 
Suppose  that  one  should  draw  one  or  two  hundred 
drops  of  pure  blood  from  an  artery  once,  twice, 
five  or  ten  times  a  week,  what  would  be  the  result  ? 
No  worse  than  this  habit  produces  in  boys  and  men 
who  practice  it  that  often. 

When  a  mere  boy,  I  practiced1  the  following  ex¬ 
periment  on  a  young  and  thrifty  grapevine.  It 
was  a  beautiful  spring  morning.  The  vital  sap  was 
ascending  the  vine  and!  distributing  its  energy 
through  every  branch',  twig  and  bud ;  and  the  vine 
was  clothing  itself  in  lovely  green,  trimmed  in 
blossoms  otf  white.  With  my  new  knife,  I  cut  a 
gash  in  the  vine  a  few  feet  above  ground.  The 
vital  sap  ran  out  profusely.  I  watched  the  flow 
with  interest.  It  looked  as  if  I  had  discovered  an 
’artesian  well.  At  length,  I  becalme  frightened 
lest  the  vine  should  exhaust  itself.  I  tried  re¬ 
peatedly  to  stop  the  flow  with  mud  made  by  the 
sap  and  dirt,  but  the  flowing  sap  would  as  often 
wash  away  the  mud.  I  tried  binding  the  wound 
with  some  cloths,  but  the  sap  passed  through  them. 
I  ran  away.  The  next  morning  my  boyish  curiosi¬ 
ty  led  me  back.  I  found  kind  mother  nature  had 


66 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


tried;  to  heal  the  wound  -by  exuding  a  reddish  sub¬ 
stance,  and  had  stopped  the  flow  with  this  material. 
Not  satisfied  and  not  realizing  the  injury  I  had 
(done,  I  repeated  the  act  of  the  preceding  day. 
Again,  the  $ap  flowed,  but  not  so  profusely  as  the 
day  before.  Several  times  I  repeated  this  act. 
Will  you  be  surprised  when  I  tell  you  that  the 
leaves  never  reached1  full  size,  that  the  fruit  did 
not  mature,  and  that  the  vine  soon  died'?  The 
secret  sin  results  in  similar  injuries  to  the  men 
and  boys  iwbo  practice  it.  Where  this  sin  is  com¬ 
mitted,  the  eyes  will  be  dull  and  sunken,  with  dark 
blue  lines  underneath  them-,  or  ta  cold,  damp  look 
about  them,  -and  all  the  bright  luster  will  'be  gone. 
The  cheeks  will  grow  pale;  the  face  often  becomes 
covered  with  bumps  and  pimples;  the  'disposition 
will  change  to  peevishness,  irritableness  -and  dis¬ 
contentment  ;  and  the  boy  will  become  puny,  weak- 
backed  and  ishaky-limbed.  In  this  semen  is  the 
strength  of  the  brain,  the  brilliancy  of  the  mind, 
the  elasticity  of  the  muscles,  the  'ambition  for  fu¬ 
ture  -achievement,  and  the  physical  requirements 
for  perfect  moral  manhood. 

1.  Effects  of  the  Habit.  This  sin  is  called  self- 
abuse,  because  every  organ  of  the  body,  every  facul¬ 
ty  of  the  mind  and-  every  power  of  the  soul  is  in¬ 
jured  by  it.  The  effects  of  this  sin  are  numerous. 
It  will,  when  persisted  in,  cause  the  external  sexual 
organs  to  become  flabby,  stringy  and  soft.  Con¬ 
tinued  masturbation  may  sooner  iot  later  produce 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


67 


an,  intensely  painful  .and1  inconvenient  disease 
called  varicocele.  In  this  disease,  the  cords,  veins 
and  arteries,  leading  to  the  left  testicle  become  en¬ 
gorged  with  im'pure  blood  and  feel  like  a  handful 
of  tangled  earth  worms.  Following  this  symptom 
the  left  testicle  will  largely  waste  away.  The  pain 
is  similar  to  what  would  take  place,  if  a  heavy 
stone  were  suspended  to  these  parts.  It  is  difficult 
for  one  to  assume  an  easy  position.  It  may  be 
brought  on  by  excessive  cohabitation,  or  alone  by 
constant  passion  aroused  by  sinful  thoughts  and 
wishes,  but  more  frequently  by  the  secret  sin.  It 
comes  on  the  guilty,  like  a  thief  in  the  night. 
Without  warning,  the  man  finds  that  he  is  a  vic¬ 
tim  to  this  fearful  disease.  In  the  initial  stage, 
one  can  effect  a  cure  by  wearing  a  silken  suspen¬ 
sory  land  avoiding  everything  that  causes  passion. 
Don’t  neglect  this  disease;  other  complications 
may  f  ollow.  If  it  does  not  yield  to  yonr  treatment 
in  a  few  weeks,  consult  a  home  physician.. 

When  this  sin  is  practiced  before  puberty,  and 
continued  after  puberty,  sometimes  the  private  or¬ 
gans  never  develop  to  manly  size,  or,  if  they  do, 
they  may  afterwards  dwindle  to  the  size  of  a  mere 
boy.  iSuch  a  boy  will  rarely  develop  well  in  body 
or  mind.  This  explains  many  puny,  scrawny, 
weak-backed,  hollow-eyed,  sail ownf ace d1  boys.  It 
makes  the  mind  fickle  and  unreliable.  It  is  a 
deadly  enemy  to  the  memory.  Most  cases  of  early 
death  from  consumption,  unless  inherited  as  a 


68 


PEKFECT  MANHOOD 


family  ‘disease,  is  due  to  self-abuse.  Rheumatism, 
heart  disease,  intermittent  fever,  and  paralysis  are 
frequent  sequels  to  this  sin.  It  is  one  cause  of 
insanity,  epilepsy  and  idiocy. 

Another  result  of  self-abuse  is  sterility.  Many 
men  and  boys  practice  this  sin  daily,  and  some  sev¬ 
eral  times  a  day.  In  such  eases  the  spermatozoa 
are  small  and  weak.  Unless  this  sin  is  stopped  it 
wild  follow  1a  man  into  the  married  life.  He  will 
continue  'the  sin  or  he  will  seek  the  same  extent  of 
gratification  with  his  wife.  Should  conception  oc¬ 
cur  from  such  immature  spermatozoa,  the  result 
will  be  a  miscarriage,  or  a  child  with  a  feeble  con¬ 
stitution,  or  possibly  an  idiot.  In  many  cases  the 
man  will  be  'temporarily  incapable  of  begetting  a 
child,  or  permanently  so.  .Such  a  man  is  'called 
sterile  or  azospermutous.  'When  married  people 
'have  no  children,  we  are  accustomed  to  thinking 
that  the  wife  is  the  sterile  one,  but  three  times  out 
of  four  it  is  the  man.  Because  a  mlan  can  have 
a  discharge  of  semen  is  not  sufficient  proof  that 
he  possesses  procreative  powers.  Such  semen  may 
have  only  a  few  weak  spermatozoa  or  none. 

If  we  men  were  only  living  the  white  life,  as  God 
intended  that  we  should,  <and  out  ancestry  had 
lived  the  white  life  before  us,  we  would  then  have 
the  advantage  of  a  splendid  sexual  inheritance — we 
would  be  in  possession  of  a  normal  sexual  nature. 
In  this  case,  we  would  secrete  semen'  no  faster 
than  nature  could  reabsorb  it.  The  entire  man 


BEEF0CT  MANHOOD. 


69 


would,  receive  the  full  benefit  of  this  nutritious  sub¬ 
stance  and  the  nervous  system!  would  be  spared  the 
shock  that  inevitably  occurs  when  there  is  an  or¬ 
gasm.  By  living  a  puTe  life  the  healthiest  of  us 
can  only  approximate  this  perfection  in  sexual 
physiology.  The  majority  of  young  men,  when 
they  are  twenty,  even  if  their  lives  are  pure,  will 
have  an  occasional  emission  of  semen,  usually  at 
night,  during  an  amorous  dream.  It  may  or  may 
not  awake  them.  A  stained  shirt  or  sheet  may  be 
the  only  evidence.  Many  young  men.  become 
frightened  at  these  emissions  and  imagine  that 
they  need  medical  attention.  Not  a  bit  of  it.  This 
is  nature’s  best  way  of  relieving  the  gorged  condi¬ 
tion  of  the  seminal  vesicles.  In  this  way  the  nerv¬ 
ous  system  is  spared  much  of  the  shock  that  oc¬ 
curs  when  the  expenditure  is  willful,  and  passion 
is  allayed  without  developing  sensuality. 

However,  when  these  emissions  become  frequent, 
as  the  result  of  impure  thought,  the  secret  sin  or 
marital  excess,  the  man  has  what  is  known  as  semi¬ 
nal  weakness  or  spermatorrhea. .  In  this  case,  the 
testicles  are  secreting  more  semen  than  nature  ever 
intended1.  The  system  cannot  absorb  it.  The  sem¬ 
inal  vesicles  and  ampullae  become  distended  with 
the  fluid,  resulting  in  passion.  The  excited  sexual 
nerve  centers,  which  control  the  muscles  that  hold 
the  semen  in  check,  will,  on  -the  slightest  provoca¬ 
tion,  cause  these  muscles  to  relax  and  a  seminal 
emission  occurs.  The  semen  in  the  various  vessels 


70 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


is  retained  there  by  a  system  of  circular  muscles 
in  the  wall  of  the  ducts  entering  the  urethra.  In 
a  healthy  man  these  muscles  are  in  a  contracted 
condition  and  are  under  the  control  of  the  sexual 
nerve  centers.  In  such  men,  passion  must  be 
aroused  to  a  considerable  pitch  before  these  nerves 
will  cause  the  muscles  to  relax  allowing  the  semen 
to  escape.  The  secret  sin  leads  to  the  formation 
of  many  times  as  much  semen  as  nature  has  pro1- 
vided  for.  Much  of  this  cannot  ibe  reabsorbed  ;  it 
must  be  ejected  from  the  body.  This  finally  leads 
to  the  partial  paralysis  of  the  sexual  nerves,  and 
they  lose  control  of  the  circular  muscles.  The 
muscles  will  then  easily  relax  and  the  semen  es¬ 
capes.  In  this  condition  a  horseback  ride,  any 
friction  of  the  private  organs,  the  sight  of  an  im¬ 
properly  dressed  woman,  a  vulgar  story  or  amor¬ 
ous  dream,  will  provoke  an  emission.  In  serious 
cases  an  emission  may  take  place  without  an  erec¬ 
tion.  In  the  last  stages  of  this  disease  an  erection 
may  become  practically  impossible  and  the  semen 
may  ooze  away  drop  at  a  time ;  or  it  may  pass  away 
during  urination,  giving  the  urine  a  milky  color. 
Such  a  condition  is  serious  and  fearful  to  expe¬ 
rience,  but  it  is  not  hopeless. 

2.  Examples.  A  leading  physician  resident  in 
a  Missouri  town  told  me  of  a  young  man  in  a 
wealthy  home  who  had  been  fearfully  addicted  to 
this  habit — sometimes  as  often  as  five  to  ten 
times  a  day.  One  day  the  father,  after  trying 


PEiRiFEICIT  MANHOOD. 


n 


many  ways  to  break  kirn  of  the  habit,  as  &  last  re¬ 
sort,  asked!  his  son  if  there  was  any  girl  that  he 
Joyed.  He  told  his  father  that  there  was  one  girl 
whom  he  loved.  She  was  a  member  of  a  poor  fam¬ 
ily.  He  promised  to  marry  her  if  arrangements 
could  be  made.  His1  father  related  to  the  father 
off  the  girl  a  true  history  of  his  condition,  offering 
to  present  the  girl  (with  a  nice  home  and  a  support 
if  .she  would,  under  the  .circumstances,  marry  the 
son.  Marriage  followed.  In  a  few  months  the  son 
became  insane,  and  later  died  in  the  asylum.  This 
woman  afterward  confided  to  the  doctor,  how  that, 
after  cohabiting  with  her  many  times  at  night, 
when  he  thought  she  was  asleep,  he  would  turn  to 
the  other  side  of  the  bed  and  practice  the  secret  sin 
for  hours. 

After  giving  my  lecture  to  men  in  a  certain 
town,  a  young  man  followed  me  to  my  room  and 
said,  “I  began  this  sin  when  I  was  only  eight  years 
old.  I  have  practiced1  it  until  one  year  ago  when 
I  was  converted.  Since  then  I  have  not  wilfully 
cammitted  the  act.  But,  at  night,  after  an  amor¬ 
ous  dream,  I  awake  to  find  that  I  have  practiced 
the  act  to  the  point  of  an  'emission,  when  it  is  too 
late  to  prevent  a  discharge.  What  am  I  to  do?” 
I  gave  him  this  advice.  Before  retiring,  tie  your 
hands  together  with  a  string  leaving  a  loop  in  it 
long  enough  to  be  thrown  over  your  head,  but  too 
short  to  allow  you  to  get  your  hands  to  your  pri¬ 
vates.  When  one  of  'those  lustful  dreams  comes 


72 


PERHEOT  MANHOOD. 


on,  in  your  effort  to  use1  your  hand,  you  will  awake ; 
then  you  can  think  of  mother,  commune  with  God, 
or  make  a  light  and  read  the  Bible  until  passion 
subsides. 

During  a  lecture  to  men  in  the  city  of  0 — ,  Mo., 
a  victim  of  this  habit  was  carried  from  the  room 
in  an  epileptic  fit.  He  looked  me  up  the  next 
morning  and  related  to  me  how  he  was  taught  the 
solitary  vice  when  he  was  only  eight  years  old; 
how  he  had1  practiced  the  habit  for  over  'twenty 
years;  and  how  he  had  never  received  any  warn¬ 
ing  until  after  he  had  become  an  epileptic.  He 
urged  me  to  use  his  name  and  relate  his  experience 
in  my  lectures,  if  by  so  doing,  I  could  save  one 
young  man. 

Only  ia  few  days  ago  a  young  man  told  me  of 
how  he  was  operated  on  for  varicocele  at  a  oo-sit  of 
$150.  I  examined  him  and  found  that  a  long  tight 
prepuce  was  the  real  cause  of  the  secret  sin.  An 
intelligent  and  honest  physician  would  have  ad¬ 
vised  circumcision,  breaking  off  from'  the  sin,  con¬ 
trol  of  the  mind,  and  the  wearing  of  a  silken  sus¬ 
pensory.  This  would  have  brought  normal  relief 
by  restoring  normal  conditions. 

I  once  'had  an  interview  with  a  m)an  fifty-three 
years  old,  who  for  ten  years1  had  been  having  epi¬ 
leptic  fits.  He  was  a  farmer,  a -member  of  the 
church,  and  was  the  father  of  several  frail  chil¬ 
dren.  He  most  solemnly  declared  that  he  had 
never  practiced1  the  secret  sin  or  -had  illicit  relations 
with  a  woman. 


FtERFEOT  MAHNOOD. 


73 


When  a  boy  he  was  reared  in  a  very  moral  and! 
religions  home.  In  the  commnnity  there  were  sev¬ 
eral  viciously  vulgar  youths.  At  school  he  listened 
to  their  obscene  conversation.  This  led  to  a  mor¬ 
bid  state  of  mind  in  regard  to  the  sexual  organs 
and  their  functions.  Day  and  night  he  indulged 
freely  in  lascivious  thoughts  and  desires.  When 
he  was  eighteen,  he  was  having  seminal  losses. 
When  he  was  twenty-five,  he  was  having  an  emis¬ 
sion  nearly  every  night  and  had  varicocele  on  the 
left  side.  When  he  was  thirty-five,  he  was  having 
emissions  one  and  two  times  a  night  and  had 
varicocele  on  both  sides.  When  he  was  forty,  he 
was  occasionally  having  epileptic  fits.  He  was 
known  as  a  truthful  man.  He  told  me  that  he  had 
never  made  a  full  confession  of  his  troubles  to  any 
one.  This  was  a  case  of  simple  mental  masturba¬ 
tion.  He  had  for  -years  frequently  reveled  in  the 
pleasures  of  a  high  state  of  passion  caused  by  men¬ 
tal  sex  stimulation.  The  mass  of  people  do  not 
understand!  the  injuries  that  may  and  do  grow  out 
of  impure  thinking. 

The  circulation  of  this  hook  for  three  years  in 
Canada  and  the  U.  S;.  has  brought  to  my  desk  sev¬ 
eral  hundred  letters  from  young  men  asking  for 
advice.  In  nearly  every  case  -these  young  men 
were  from  twenty-seven  to  thirty-seven  years  old. 
and  were  suffering  from,  the  effects  of  self-abuse. 
With  but  few  exceptions  they  were  taught  the 
evil  before  -they  were  twelve  years  odd  and  had 


74 


FEEiFElCT  MANHOOD. 


never  received1  any  sex  instruction.  In  many  cases 
I  'have  continued  correspondence  with  them!  for 
six  months  or  a  3Tear ;  in  a  few  cases  for  two  years. 
In  most  every  case  these  young  men  have  been  re¬ 
stored  to  health,  reasonable  manhood,  some  have 
become  Christians  and  some  have  married.  This 
correspondence  has  never  been  of  any  pecuniary 
benefit  to  me.  I  crave  no  higher  earthly  joy  than 
comes  through  a  brotherly  effort  to  help  those  that 
need  this  help. 

Here  is  a  letter  from  a  young  man  received 
Nov.  29,  1909.  He  is  now  practically  well  and 
pursuing  his  course  of  study  in  the  High  School. 
Several  letters  have  passed  between  us.  Had  this 
boy  been  twenty-five  -and  in  the  condition  he  de¬ 
scribes,  it  would  have  required  at  least  two  years 
for  him  to  have  recovered  to  any  reasonable  extent. 
In  this  letter  I  have  corrected  the  spelling  and 
composition. 

“Dear  Prof :  I  have  just  read  Perfect  Manhood. 
Believing  that  I  can  afford  to  confide  my  troubles 
to  you  and  ask  your  advice,  I  take  this  liberty  of 
writing  you.  I  was  taught  the  relations  of  hus¬ 
band  and  wife  and  the  secret  sin  when  I  was  six 
or  seven.  On  the  school  grounds  and  in  the  closets, 
I  watched  boys  much  older  than  I  practice  this 
evil.  Then  I  would  practice  the  evil  until  I  would 
have  an  orgasm.  Not  being  able  to  have  a  dis¬ 
charge,  I  often  continued  for  a  long  time  thinking 
I  could  not  be  a  man  until  I  could.  This  led  to 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


75 


the  daily  practice  of  this  habit;  and  sometimes  sev¬ 
eral  times  a  day.  Before  I  was  thirteen  I  was 
practicing  this  sin  as  high  as  five  times  a  day. 
When  I  was  fourteen  my  conscience  seemed  to  tell 
me  that  it  was  wrong.  Then  I  tried  for  .several 
years  to  quit.  Sometimes  I  would  succeed  for  a 
week  or  ten  days.  For  four  years  I  have  practiced 
the  sin  on  an  average  of  four  or  five  times  a  week. 
I  am  now  eighteen.  I  am  having  night  losses, usual- 
ly  twice  a  night.  My  private  organs  have  never  de¬ 
veloped  properly.  I  have  varicocele  on  the  left 
side,  take  cold  easily,  have  pains  in  my  back,  and 
cannot  get  my  lessons  easily. 

1  am  here  trying  to  get  through  high  school.  If 
you  can  tell  me  what  to  do  that  will  help  me  out  of 
this  trouble,  please  be  so  kind  as  to  write  me  on 
next  mail.  Please  don’t  let  my  parents  get  hold  of 
this.  They  are  nice  people  and  it  would  run  them 
crazy  to  know  my  condition.  I  hope  this  letter 
will  reach  you  and  that  you  can  tell  me  what  to 
do.  Sincerely,  — — * - — ■” 

These  are  extreme  cases.  I  would  not  lead  the 
reader  to  -believe  that  all  who  practice  this  sin 
get  in  one  of  these  conditions  described.  If  the 
boy  quits  the  habit  when  he  is  about  fourteen,  he 
never  suffers  any  after  bad  effects,  that  is,  the  bad 
effects  are  entirely  overcome  during  a  pure  adol¬ 
escence.  Most  young  men  begin  to  practice  some 
self-restraint  in  their  “teens”  through  the  prompt- 


76 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


ings  of  conscience  or  some  advice  they  receive,  and 
while  they  are  injured:  by  the  habit  that  still  clings 
to  them,  none  of  these  extreme  injuries  follow,  and 
they  think  that  they  have  entirely  escaped.  They 
are  like  many  men  who  use  whisky  and  tobacco 
most  of  their  lives,  and  because  they  have  not  ex¬ 
perienced  any  of  the  serious  results  from  these 
habits,  they  imagine  that  these  habits  are  not  in¬ 
jurious  to  them.. 

3.  How  to  Prevent  This  Evil.  The  only  way 
to  have  pure  men  and1  boys  is  to  teach  purity.  That 
the  secret  sin  is  on  the  increase  is  not  doubted  by 
•those  who  have  carefully  studied  the  question  of 
social  purity.  The  first  step  is  to  recognize  the 
evil  and  its  magnitude.  Parents  should  under¬ 
stand  the  laws  of  sexual  physiology  and1  hygiene; 
so  should  every  minister,  public  school  teacher  and 
college  professor.  Parents  should  lovingly  instruct 
their  children  in  relation  to  he  uses  of  these  or¬ 
gans  and  faithfully  warn  them  of  the  evils  that 
will  inevitably  follow  the  misuse  of  these  organs. 
Male  teachers  should  lecture  the  boys  and  young 
men,  and  the  lady  teachers  should  instruct  the 
girls.  Every  minister  of  Christ  should  prepare 
addresses  on  this  subject  for  men. 

The  Superintendent  of  the  Massachusetts  Insane 
Asylum,  says:  “Those  who  think  that  informa¬ 
tion  on  this  subject  is  either  unnecessary  ot  in¬ 
jurious  are  hardly  aware  how  extensive  this  habit 
is  with  the  young,  or  how  early  in  life  it  is  some- 


PElREECT  manhood. 


w 

times  practiced.  I  have  never  conversed  with  a 
lad  twelve  years  old!  who  did  not  know  all  about 
the  practice,  and  understand  the  language  used  to 
describe  it.” 

Dr.  Sylvester  Oraiham  in  his  pamphlet  on 
'Chastity,  says:  '“The  common  notion  that  boys 
are  generally  ignorant  in  relation  to  this  matter, 
and  that  we  ought  not  to  remove  that  ignorance, 
is  wholly  incorrect.  I  am  confident  that  I  speak 
within  the  bounds  of  truth'  when  I  say  that  seven 
out  of  every  ten  boys  in  our  country,  at  the  age 
of  twelve,  have  at  least  heard  of  this  practice;  and 
I  say  again,  the  extent  to  which  it  prevails  in  our 
public  schools  and  colleges  is  shocking  beyond 
measure.” 

Before  the  boy  reaches  the  age  of  puberty,  I 
tuiUK:  he  should  be  taught  the  sacredness  and  nat¬ 
uralness  of  sexual  instinct. — E.  L.  Stevens,  M.  D., 
Des  Moines,  Iowa. 

If  I  were  obliged  to  answer  the  question,  “What 
do  our  boys  and  girls  most  need  to  have  added  to 
their  education  ?”  I  think  I  should  have  to  reply : 
“More  intelligent  training  in  the  mysteries  of 
physical  life  and  sexual  functions.” — Herbert 
Dates,  Dept.  Sec.,  Y.  'M.  C.  A.,  Chicago. 

The  crying  need  of  the  youth  of  the  American 
nation  is  thorough  education  in  sexology.  Educa¬ 
tion  alone,  will  stop  the  terrible  injury  that  is  be¬ 
ing  done  to  national  health. — It.  E.  -Sloan,  M.  D., 
Wilmington,  Del. 


78 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


As  parents  and  teachers  we  are  called  upon  to 
protect  children  and  youth  from!  the  physical  and 
moral  ruin  which  follows  the  perversion  of  sexual 
life  largely  due  to  ignorance  and  misinformation 

. It  is  to  this  crusade  we  address  ourselves 

andl  summon  to  our  ranks  every  chivalrous  man 
and  every  good  woman. — Prof.  Chas.  R.  Hender¬ 
son,  University  of  Chicago. 

Let  us  place  before  the  young  men  in  the  public 
schools  the  moral  and  physiologic  responsibilities 
associated  with  their  sex  nature  and  appeal  to  them 
to  make  a  fight  for  purity. — J.  Q.  Smith,  M.D., 
New  York. 

Is  it  not  the  supreme  duty  of  every  conscien¬ 
tious  American  to  use  his  influence  and  insist  that 
sex  education  may  be  made  a  functional  part  of 
the  public  school  system1,  in  order  that  no  young 
man  in  the  future  shall  have  the  right  to  say :  “If 
I  had  only  known/5 — In  Social  Hygiene  Vs.  The 
Sexual  Plagues,  by  the  Indiana  State  Board  of 
Health. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  Sept.  26,  1910. 
Mr.  Arthur  Burrage  Harwell,  Chicago: 

Dear  Sir  ;• — In  reply  to  your  letter  of  Sept.  22nd, 
just  received,  I  beg  to  say  that  in  my  opinion  the 
social  evil  and  the  disease  incident  thereto  ought 
to  be  publicly  discussed;  so  that  feasible  remedies 
may  be  decided  upon  and  applied.  I  am  entirely 
convinced  that  the  policy  of  silence  upon  these 
subjects  has  failed  disastrously. 


FEtRFEICT  MAdSTHOOD. 


79 


Another  subject  which1  ought  to  be  publicly  dis¬ 
cussed  among  teachers  and  parents  is  the  (addition 
to  our  school  programs  of  instruction  in  normal 
reproduction  in  plants  and  animals,  sexual  hygiene 
in  the  human  species  and  the  horrors  of  sexual 
vice.  You  are  at  liberty  to  make  public  use  of 
this  note  at  your  discretion.  Very  truly  yours, 

Charles  W.  Eliot. 

(Former  President  of  Harvard  University.) 

n.  VENEREAL  DISEASES. 

The  almost  inevitable  result  of  visiting  the  house 
of  prostitution  is  some  form  of  venereal  disease. 
The  most  common  forms  are  Chancroid  or  soft- 
chancre,  gonorrhea  and  syphilis.  These  diseases 
are  due  to  specific  disease  germs.  Venereal  disease 
is  as  old  as  human  history.  All  authorities  are 
agreed  that  they  have  their  origin  in  illicit  inter¬ 
course.  Hot  one  authentic  'case  has  ever  occurred 
in  the  marriage  bed.  Married  people  may  be  ever 
so  excessive  and’  careless  in  their  sexual  relations, 
and  none  of  these  diseases  will  originate  with  them. 
They  may  become  infected  innocently  from  contact 
with  closets,  towels,  etc.  These  diseases  are  un¬ 
known  among  the  lower  animals.  There  is  a  strong 
intimation  here  that  man  is  under  a  moral  law, 
whose  Author  protects  purity  by  attaching  a  penal¬ 
ty  to  the  violation  of  the  sacred  laws  of  reproduc¬ 
tion. 

These  diseases  were  for  centuries  considered  as 


80 


PERFECT  MlANHjOOiD. 


different  expressions  of  the  same  disease.  In  1838 
it  was  discovered  that  they  were  entirely  different 
diseases  requiring  different  treatment.  In  1879 
Dr.  Neisser  idiscovered  the  specific  germ  of  gonor¬ 
rhea,  called  the  gonococcus.  In  1895  two  German 
doctors  discovered  the  germ  of  syphilis,  spirochetae 
pallida. 

1.  Chancroid.  This  disease  does  not  produce 
the  serious  effects  of  the  other  venereal  diseases.  It 
is  contagious,  contracted  during  the  sexual  act,  and 
the  infection  is  dependent  on  a  crack  or  abrasion 
in  the  -mucous  membrane.  This  disease  makes  its 
appearance  in  the  fornu  of  one  or  more  sores  usu 
ally  on  tire  under  side  of  the  gland  penis,  in  from 
two  to  five  days  after  exposure.  If  neglected,  or  if 
for  any  reason  the  disease  becomes  complicated, 
the  groins  are  likely  to  become  affected,  swell  and 
burst.  This  stage  of  the  disease  is  called  bubo 
or  “blue  ball.” 

2.  Gonorrhea.  Many  thoughtless  and  ignorant 
young  men  talk  of  gonorrhea  as  if  it  were  nothing 
worse  than  a  bad  cold,  measles  or  whooping  cough. 
In  this  they  are  sadly  mistaken.  This  disease  is 
very  prevalent  among  young  men  who  are  inconti¬ 
nent.  It  is  claimed  by  the  very  best  authorities 
that  from  sixty  to  eighty  per  cent  of  the  young 
men  become  infected1  with  this  disease  between  the 
ages  of  eighteen  and  thirty. 

The  disease  is  contagious,  acquired  during  inier- 
ourse  and  first  affects  the  mucous  membrane  of 


FEKFBCT  MfAdTOlOD. 


81 


the  urethra.  For  one  -to  contract  this  disease  it  is 
not  necessary  for  the  mucous  membrane  to  be 
abraded.  The  -disease  may  be  acquired  by  the  use 
of  a  closet,  towel,  bath  tubs,  etc. 

The  disease  appears  from  three  to  five  days  af¬ 
ter  exposure,  and  is  heralded  by  the  swelling  of 
the  urethra,  and  an  itching  burning  sensation  dur¬ 
ing  urination.  These  symptoms  continue  for  a 
week  or  ten  days  when  a  thick  greenish-yellow  dis¬ 
charge  begins.  Under  careful  and  prompt  treat¬ 
ment,  in  most  cases,  the  disease  can  be  permanent¬ 
ly  cured.  Even  under  prompt  and  careful  treat¬ 
ment  there  is  a  tendency  in  some  cases  for  the 
disease  to  run  into  a  chronic  condition.  Compli¬ 
cated  chronic  conditions  often  occur  from  poor 
treatment  or  neglect.  This  condition  is  called 
chronic  gonorrhea  or  “gleet.”  When  it  has  reach  ¬ 
ed  this  stage  the  disease  may  run  for  an  indefinite 
period.  Some  of  the  complications  of  this  disease 
are:  Chronic  inflammation  of  the  mucous  mem¬ 
brane  of  the  urethra,  with  a  constant  oozing  away 
of  a  thin  watery  discharge. 

It  may  produce  stricture,  which  consists  in  the 
narrowing  of  the  urethra  at  one  or  more  places. 
This  causes  urination  to  become  difficult  and  pain¬ 
ful.  This  condition  often  requires  a  long  and  pain¬ 
ful  treatment  writh  the  possible  necessity  cf  an  op¬ 
eration. 

It  may  infect  the  prostate  gland.  This  gland  is 
sometimes  called  the  ‘dieart  of  the  sexual  system.” 


82 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


'When  this  gland  becomes  the  seat  <of  gonorrheal 
infection,  the  whole  sexual  system  becomes  more 
or  less  involved  and  may  seriously  affect  the  entire 
generative  function.  It  may  necessitate  a  serious 
surgical  operation.  The  victim  often  becomes  very 
despondent.  If  the  disease  enters  the  bladder,  it  is 
known  as  “bladder  clap.”  If  the  disease  extends  to 
the  testes  and  both  become  infected'  the  individual 
may  become  sterile.  If  the  gonococci  get  into  the 
blood  they  may  find  their  way  to  the  joints  of  the 
bones.  The  joints  swell  with  intense  pain.  This 
disease  is  known  as  gonorrheal  rheumatism.  It  of¬ 
ten  leaves  the  victim  a  permanent  cripple.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  obstinate,  painful  and  incurable 
diseases  known  to  medical  science. 

'Gonorrheal  pus  transferred  to  the  eye, in  any  way, 
will  result  in  gonorrheal  opthalmia  and  may  extin¬ 
guish  sight  in  a  few  hours.  One  having  this  dis¬ 
ease  should  not  associate  with  any  one,  nor  wash 
where  others  do,  nor  handle  things  others  have 
to  handle.  These  germs  are  very  tenacious  of  life 
and  multiply  rapidly.  A  careful  physician  will 
not  allow  a  gonorrheal  patient  to  touch  anything  in 
his  office  until  he  has  washed  his  hands  with  an 
antiseptic.  He  is  absolutely  unclean  and  posi¬ 
tively  dangerous. 

Many  men  thinlk  themselves  cured  of  this  dis¬ 
ease  when  they  are  not.  It  is  now  known  that  the 
germs,  "weakened  by  medicine,  may  remain  in  the 
urethra  or  other  genital  organs  for  year®  in  a  quies- 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


83 


cent  state,  producing  in  trim  no  disturbed  'Condi¬ 
tions,  but  when  they  are  deposited  in  the  fresh  soil 
of  the  wife,  they  rapidly  take  on  new  life,  multiply 
and  produce  gonorrheal  'Conditions.  Such  husbands 
are  responsible  for  nearly  all  of  the  blindness  of 
the  new  born.  Eighty  per  cent  of  the  blindness  of 
the  new  born  and  twenty  per  cent  of  tall  blindness 
is  due  to  gonorrheal  infection.  Dr.  Messer  esti¬ 
mates  that  there  are  30,000  blind  children  in  Ger¬ 
many  due  to  this  cause.  No  definite  statistics  are 
available  in  the  United  States. 

The  gonococci  of  the  infected  mother  find  their 
way  into  the  eye  of  the  babe  as  it  comes  in  contact 
with  the  maternal  passages  during  birth.  In  most 
all  cases  the  infection  of  the  mother  was  due  to  her 
husband  who  thought  he  was  cured.  In  the  eyes  of 
the  baby,  'the  germs  multiply  rapidly.  In  a  few 
hours,  or  a  day,  the  mother  discovers  trouble  with 
the  eyes  of  her  baby.  The  physician  is  called  ;  at 
a  glance  the  wise  physician  understands  the  cause 
and  the  gravity  of  his  visit;  he  faces  a  domestic 
crisis;  he  must  glibly  lie  to  protect  the  guilty,  de¬ 
ceive  the  innocent  and  prevent  family  disruption. 

Only  a  few  days  ago  I  was  standing  in  a  drug 
store  and  talking  to  a  doctor,  when  a  young  couple 
entered.  The  wife  held  in  her  arms  a  small  baby. 
A  glance  into  the  face  of  the  baby  revealed  to  me 
that  it  had  gonorrheal  opthalmia.  When  the  doc¬ 
tor  returned  from  treating  the  Child,  I  said,  “Doc¬ 
tor,  was  that  not  a  case  of  gonorrheal  opthalmia  ?v 


84 


PEEiPElCT  MlAmiOOD. 


{CYe s,”  was  his  reply.  Then  I  enquired'  of  the  doc¬ 
tor  if  he  had  ever  explained  to  the  father  the  cause 
of  the  baby’s  trouble.  He  replied  that  doctors  us¬ 
ually  considered  such  explanations  as  unwise.  Jfy 
reply  was,  “Doctor,  that  young  husband  will  no 
doubt  often  boast  in  the  presence  of  single  young 
men  of  his  frequent  visits  to  the  prostitute  and 
how  he  caught  one  or  more  eases  of  gonorrhea  that 
amounted  to  nothing  more  than  bad  colds.  In  this 
way  he  will  deceive  other  young  men  land  encourage 
them  to  run  the  risk.  If  doctors  would  make  plain 
to  the  guilty  men  the  results  of  these  diseases,  few¬ 
er  would  expose  themselves  and  their  offspring.” 
In  a  very  short  time  the  couple  returned  and  the 
doctor  had  the  young  man  excuse  himself  from  his 
wife  while  he  had  an  interview  with  him.  When 
the  couple  again  left  the  store,  the  doctor  said, 
“lie  admitted  -that  he  had  had  two  mild  cases  of 
gonorrhea  and  was  much  surprised  'when  I  told 
him  that  he  was  responsible  for  his  child’s  condi¬ 
tion  and  that  his  child  would  always  have  defec¬ 
tive  eyes.” 

The  author  never  passes  iby  a  poor  beggar  on 
the  street  begging  for  pennies  that  he  does  not 
wonder  if  a  gonorrhealized  father  was  not  respon¬ 
sible  for  the  beggar’s  sad  condition. 

If  the  guilty  man  alone  suffered  for  his  bad 
deeds,  it  would'  not  be  so  bad;  but  often  his  wife 
and  children  are  the  greatest  sufferers.  Such  hus¬ 
bands  are  often  responsible  for  the  diseased  vagi- 


•PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


85 


nag,  nodules,  tumors,  ulcerated  wombs  land  ovaries 
of  their  wives.  Sixty  to  eighty  per  cent  of  all  the 
pelvic  and  abdominal  surgical  operations  on  wives 
are  'due  to  gonorrheal  infection  and  in  nearly  every 
case  they  contracted  it  from  their  husbands.  This 
is  the  opinion  of  hospital  authorities.  Fifty  per 
cent  of  gonorrheal  women  (are  absolutely  sterile. 
Twenty  per  cent  of  all  of  the  involuntary  childless 
homes  are  <due  to  gonorrhealy  infected  husbands. 

3.  Syphilis.  There  is  perhaps  nothing  known 
to  the  medical  profession  so  horrible  and  insidious 
as  syphilis.  In  medical  works  it  is  described  as 
consisting  of  three  stages  of  development — pri¬ 
mary,  .secondary  and  tertiary.  When  a  person  has 
been  infected  with  these  disease  germs,  a  hard 
pimple  at  the  point  of  exposure  will  be  the  first 
sign,  soon  to  become  an  open  growing  sore.  This 
is  the  primary  stage.  Ulcerated  sores  breaking 
out  on  any  or  all  parts  of  the  body,  with  painlui 
swelling  of  the  testes  are  the  fore-tokens  of  sec¬ 
ondary  syphilis.  Finally  the  third  stage  comes  on, 
in  which,  origan,  tissue  and  bone  may  be  involved. 
The  bones  of  the  nose  and  mouth,  being  the  ones 
most  frequently  affected,  cause  the  bridge  of  the 
nose  to  drop  in  its  shape.  It  may  however  attack 
any  part  of  the  .skeleton  -and  cause  the  bones  to 
decay  and  pass  away. 

If  this  disease  is  not  cured  before  it  reaches  the 
secondary  and  tertiary  stages,  it  will  be  exceeding¬ 
ly  difficult  to  cure,  if  indeed  it  is  ever  permanent- 


■PERFECT  MAATiOOD. 


lv  cured.  Eo  doctor  can  tell  what  will  he  the  final 
•/ 

outcome  of  this  disease  when  it  reaches  one  of 
these  last  stages.  One  who  has  had  syphilis  can 
never  feel  quite  sure  that  it  will  never  return. 

Authorities  now  claim  that  syphilis  is  responsi¬ 
ble  for  ninety  per  cent  of  locomotor  ataxia,  much 
of  apoplexy,  paralysis  and  sudden  deaths.  Insur¬ 
ance  Companies  hold  that  this  disease  shortens  life 
one-third.  Pinnardi  found!  that  in  10,000  cases  of 
miscarriages  or  abortions  forty-two  per  cent  were 
caused  by  syphilis,  the  remaining  fifty-eight  per 
cent  were  due  to  all  other  causes  combined.  Sixty 
to  eighty  per  cent  of  congenital  syphilitic  children 
are  still-born,  while  those  who  survive  are  affected 
with  defeats  which  unfit  them  for  the  battles  of 
life.  'Syphilis  in  France  alone,  kills  every  year 
20,000  children.  Fournier  states  that  in  his  prac¬ 
tice  that  iseventy-five  per  cent  of  the  married  fe¬ 
males  having  syphilis  that  the  disease  was  traced 
to  the  husbands.  Dr.  Buckley’s  statistics,  “Syphi¬ 
lis  in  the  Innocent,”  states  that  in  private  practice 
fully  fifty  per  cent  of  all  females  with  syphilis,  ac¬ 
quired  it  in  a  perfectly  innocent  manner,  while  in 
the  married  females  eighty-five  per  cent  contracted 
it  from  their  husbands.  Dr.  Morrow  in  his  ex¬ 
perience  in  the  New  York  Hospital  found  that 
seventy  per  cent  of  the  women  who  applied  for 
treatment  for  syphilis  were  married  and  claimed  to 
have  received  the  disease  from  their  husbands. 

Many  of  the  inmates  of  the  asylum  have  'hutch- 


FERiFEOT  MANHOOD. 


87 


ison  notched)  teeth,”  “Crow  foot  tracks”  in  the  pal¬ 
ate  and  throat  that  show  them  to  be  congenital 
syphilitics.  Some  ancestor,  perhaps  three  to  four 
generations  hack,  was  immoral,  became  infected 
with  syphilis  and  transmitted  the  results  of  his 
“iniquity  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generations.” 

The  syphilitic  man  is  a  source  of  danger  to  ev¬ 
ery  one  in  a  community.  Not  long  ago  a  doctor 
told-  me  of  a  little  girl  twelve  years  old  that  he  had 
been  treating  for  five  years.  There  was  no  evidence 
that  She  had  inherited  the  disease.  His  only  solu¬ 
tion  of  the  origin  of  the  disease,  that  was  wasting 
away  her  nose  and  mouth,  was  that  her  mother, 
who  made  a  living  at  the  wash  tub,  had  five  years 
before  washed  the  clothes  of  a  man  who  had  this 
disease,  and  in  some  way,  the  little  girl  had  come 
in  contact  with  the  clothing. 

In  another  town  I  was  told  by  a  physician  of  a 
case  where  a  girl  during  a  dance  asked  for  a  pencil 
and  paper.  This  was  quickly  produced  by  a  young 
’blood.  'Girl  like,  she  placed  the  pencil  in  her 
mouth  'before  using  it.  A  few  days  later  a  soft, 
moist,  syphilitic  sore  developed  on  her  lip. 

The  mian  who  has  had  this  disease  and  thinks 
himself  well,  may  carry  the  disease  to  his  wife,  or 
transmit  the  taint  of  it  to  his  children,  giving  them 
stunted  and  feeble  constitutions. 

Young  man,  let  no  man  deceive  you  with  the 
suggestion  that  there  is  no  danger  in  going  occa¬ 
sionally  to  the  house  of  prostitution;  that  there  are 


83 


PERFECT  MiAJNDEDOKXD. 


reliable  preventatives  of  infection;  or  tbiat  you 
can  be  easily,  quickly  and  permanently  cured. 
Few  reliable  physicians  will  take  a  case  of  syphilis 
that  has  reached  the  secondary  stage  without  the 
patient’s  promise  to  take  treatment  for  two  or 
three  years.  The  danger  is  so  great  that  authori¬ 
ties  tell  us  that  “All  prostitutes  are  diseased  part 
of  the  time  and  that  part  of  them  are  diseased  all 
of  the  time.”  There  is  no  safety  outside  of  a  con¬ 
tinent  life. 

The  New  York  Medical  Kecord  says:  “Dr. 
Fournier  asked  873  male  syphilitics  how  they  had 
become  infected.  It  was  found  that  625  got  the 
disease  from  registered,  licensed  and  regalarly  ex¬ 
amined  prostitutes;  100  from  working  women,  21 
from  -domestics,  24  from  married-  women,  46  from 
clandestine  prostitutes. 

4.  Sin  is  sexless.  Whatever  is  wrong  for  a  wo¬ 
man  to  do  is  equally  wrong  for  a  man.  One  of  the 
crying  needs  of  this  age  is  a  single  standard  of 
purity  for  men  and  women.  Clan  a  man  engage  in 
the  telling  and  ready  hearing  of  smutty  jokes  and 
'be  manly?  If  he  can,  a  woman  can  do  the  same 
and  be  womanty.  The  fallen  man  is  just  as  truly 
an  adulterer  as  the  fallen  womJan  is  an  adulteress. 
Young  man,  if  it  is  a  heinous  sin  for  your  sister 
to  fornicate  with  a  libertine,  it  is  just  as  vile  and 
heinous  for  her  brother  to  commit  the  same  sin 
with  a  harlot.  It  is  just  as  ungentlemanly  for  you 

keen  a  hired  mistress  as  it  would  be  unwomanly 


BEIBjFOQCT  maneeoo-d. 


89 


for  your  sister  to  receive  pay  for  her  sexual  favors 
from  a  vile  man.  If  you  can  reform,  after  a 
while,  from  a  life  of  fornication  and  then  make 
some  pure  girl  a  kinigly  husband,  why  could  not 
some  harlot  reform  and  make  you  a  queenly  wife  ? 
Have  you  any  manly  right  to  demand  purity  of  a 
girl  to  become  the  companion  of  your  life,  the 
queen  of  your  home,  the  mother  of  your  children, 
when  you  have  lived  a  sensual,  lecherous  and1  lep¬ 
rous  life  ?  If  you,  as  the  father  of  an  illegitimate 
child,  can  justly  offer  your  hand  to  a  pure  girl  in 
holy  matrimony,  could  not  the  mother  of  an  illegi¬ 
timate  child  as  justly  offer  her  hand  to  you  in 
marriage  ?  What  right  have  you  to  ask  a  pure  girl 
to  become  the  step-mother  of  a  bastard  child,  when 
you  are  not  willing  to  become  the  step-father  of 
such?  For  a  married  man  to  have  sexual  rela¬ 
tions  with  a  woman  not  his  wife  is  just  as  great  a 
sin  and  crime  as  for  his  wife  to  he  guilty  of  willful 
adultery.  If  adultery  on  the  part  of  the  wife  is 
justifiable  ground  for  divorce  proceedings,  adultery 
on  the  part  of  her  husband  is  justifiable  ground 
upon  which  is'he  may  secure  a  divorce. 

Thoughtless  and  sinful  unmarried  men  often 
boast  of  being  the  fathers  of  children  out  of  wed¬ 
lock.  Did  you  ever  stop  and  consider  the  relations 
of  illegitimate  parents  to  their  unfortunate  chil¬ 
dren?  If  not,  I  'beg  you  to  stop  and  view  their 
family  record.  It  is  one  of  the  blackest  in  the  an¬ 
nals  of  crime.  Have  you  brought  an  immortal  be- 


90 


PERFECT  MAjNHjOiOiD. 


ing  into  this  world  outside  the  bonds  of  holy  wed¬ 
lock?  Then  that  child  is  hone  of  your  bone,  flesh 
of  your  flesh,  nerve  of  your  nerve,  blood  of  your 
blood,  life  of  your  life;  it  is  your  offspring,  your 
child,  your  son  or  daughter.  The  child  is  of  un¬ 
fortunate  birth  und  has  an  illegitimate  father  and 
mother.  If  your  bastard  child  has  a  negro  mother, 
we  call  it  a  mulatto,  but  that  does  not  change  your 
relation  to  the  child;  it  only  gives  you  a  double 
race  relation — part  of  your  family  belongs  to  the 
colored  race  and  part  to  the  white.  Bastard  as  that 
child  is  white  or  black,  as  the  case  may  be,  it  is  the 
grandson  or  granddaughter  of  your  pure  mother, 
and  your  mother  is  one  of  its  grandmothers  by 
affinity. 

If  you  are  now  married  and  have  legitimate 
children,  the  relation  of  your  families  is  a  little 
complicated.  Bastard  as  the  first  child  is,  it  is  the 
step-child  of  }Our  wife,  and  the  half-brother  or 
sister  of  your  legitimate  children.  Your  legal  wife 
is  your  second  choice;  the  mother  of  your  first 
child  was  your  first  choice.  You  are  just  as  respon¬ 
sible  for  the  existence  of  the  first  child  as  you  are 
for  the  others.  This  first  child  resembles  you  as 
much  as  the  others;  it  sustains  the  identical  re¬ 
lations  to  you  in  its  physical,  mental  and  moral  na¬ 
tures;  in  its  demands  for  food1,  clothing,  shelter, 
education,  moral  training  and  the  right  to  inherit 
a  part  of  your  estate  that  the  second  class  of  chil¬ 
dren  do.  If  the  mother  of  this  child  was  a  partner 


PERFECT  MAiNHjOiOD 


91 


with  you  in  this  crime,  you  should  at  least  support 
her,  one-half,  while  she  is  oaring  for  your  child. 
If  she  was  deceived  or  forced  into  .partnership  in 
the  crime,  then  she  should  have  life-long  ample 
support  from  you.  If  we  ‘had  civil  laws  with  ade¬ 
quate  penalties  for  this  class  of  -crime©,  illegitimate 
children  and  their  mothers  would!  have  to  be  sup¬ 
ported  as  described. 

But  I  am  not  through  with  your  family  record. 
Your  act  of  fornication  was  'deliberate  and  volun¬ 
tary.  The  same  may  have  been  true  of  the  woman. 
If  not,  then  her  loss  of  character,  her  shame  and 
guilt  must  be  added  to  your  record.  Add  to  this, 
that  the  advent  of  the  child  into-  this  world,  on  its 
part,  was  wholly  involuntary.  So  far  as  its  rela¬ 
tion  to  this  sin  of  your,  prostitution  is  concerned, 
it  is  as  innocent  as  an  angel.  The  pen  of  the  most 
ready  writer  could  not  in  a  life-time  describe  the 
mental  sufferings,  the  soul-anguish,  this  child  must 
experience  in  the  school  room,  upon  the  play 
ground,  in  its  relation  to  other  boys  and  girls,  men 
and  women ;  in  the  social  and1  business  life ;  made 
a  target  of  ridicule,  scorn,  abuse  and  social  ostra¬ 
cism.  'Which  would  you  rather  experience,  life¬ 
time  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary  for  a  crime 
for  which  you  are  consciously  innocent,  or  be  the 
life-long  innocent  but  conscious  product  of  illegiti¬ 
mate  birth,  tortured  by  the  taunts,  jeers,  scorn  and 
ridicule  of  an  un-Christlfke  world?  0  merciful 
God !  let  the  offspring  from  my  loins  he  life-long 


PERFECT  MAYiHOOGD. 


02 

(physical  sufferers  and  raving  maniacs  rather  than 
that  one  of  them  should  ever  feel  the  anguish  of  a 
poor,  innocent,  injured  and  wronged  bastard  child. 
0  God!  give  us  the  sympathetic,  tender  spirit  of 
Jesus  in  our  social,  charitable  and  religious  rela¬ 
tions  to  the  unfortunate  and  sinful  women  and 
their  innocent  'children.  In  tenderness  and  love, 
we  -commit  the  guilty  men  to  Thy  infinite  mercy 
and  absolute  justice. 

After  lecturing  to  men  one  Sunday  afternoon, 
among  others,  three  young  men  on  the  following 
night  came  to  the  altar  for  prayer.  The  next  day 
I  had  private  interviews  with  them  at  their  request. 
At  these  three  interviews;,  given  separately,  the 
young  men  confessed  to  me  that  they  were  living 
in  fornication  with  the  young  ladies  with  whom 
they  were  keeping  company.  They  felt  deeply 
their  guilt  and  were  willing  to  do  what  was  right. 
I  asked  them  if  they  had  any  reason  to  believe 
that  their  girls  were  dividing  their  favors  with 
other  young  men.  They  replied  that  they  had  no 
reason  to  believe  that  they  had  ever  been  guilty 
•with  anyone  else.  I  then  told  them  that  the  only 
manly  thing  they  could  do  would  be  to  marry  the 
girls,  and  that,  as  quickly  as  they  could,  they 
should  arrange  for  the  marriage.  To  this  they 
willingly  consented.  I  then  added-  “You  must 
desist  from  indulgence  until  marriage  is  consum¬ 
mated.”  ‘Six  bright  conversions,  after  hitter  tears 
of  repentance,  were  followed  a  few  days  later  by 


PEBEEUT  MANHOOD. 


93 


three  happy  marriages.  But  this  sin,  when  in¬ 
dulged  in  by  the  unmarried,  does  net  always  cul¬ 
minate  so  well.  Even  when  it  does,  there  must  he 
life-long  regret  that  they  were  not  truer  to  each 
other.  To  say  nothing  of  the  great  sin  committed, 
there  are  so  many  'perils  and  dangers. 

'Many  of  our  laws  and  Statutes  which  'have  been 
enacted  for  the  protection  of  virtue  in  our  homes 
are  good);  many  are  weak,  and  the  penalties  inade¬ 
quate  ;  and  many  are  but  dead  letters  on  our  statute 
books.  Many  of  our  officials  owe  their  election  to 
law-breakers  and  are  not  in  sympathy  with  law 
enforcement,  but  are  in  league  with  violators  of 
law.  The  number  of  town,  county,  State  and  na¬ 
tional  officers  who  are  'guilty  of  a  double  life  is  ap¬ 
palling.  It  is  unreasonable  to  expect  officers  to 
rigidly  enforce  laws  that  they  are  themselves  con¬ 
sciously  guilty  of  breaking.  The  rapist,  who  forces 
a  woman  involuntarily  into  the  act,  is  in  danger  of 
law  enforcement.  However,  this  class  of  vile- 
hearted  men  are  few  in  number  and  meet  with 
speedy  justice  for  their  crimes.  But  there  is  a 
large  number  of  men  who  have  formed  evil  habits, 
cultivated  vicious  tastes,  blunted  their  finest  moral 
sensibilities,  and  have  a  very  low  idea  of  virtue, 
who  often  escape  justice  for  their  crimes.  This 
class  look  upon  every  woman  as  a  piece  of  mer¬ 
chandise.  They  use  every  seductive  means,  such 
as  the  dance,  the  theater,  'buggy  rides  at  night,  flat¬ 
tery,  offers  of  money,  pleading  that  “others  do  it,” 


94 


PERFECT  M3ANHOOD. 


pretended  courtship,  promises  of  marriage,  famil- 
mr  caresses  and  kisses,  and  every  other  device  a 
sensual  man  can  nse  to  induce  a  woman  to  surren¬ 
der  her  virtue.  It  makes  no  difference  with  them 
whether  she  is  under  the  '“age  of  consent,”  single 
or  married;  their  only  concern  is  sexual  gratifica¬ 
tion,  and  to  escape  punishment.  iSuch  men  have 
descended!  to  such  a  depth  of  depravity  that  the 
words,  mother,  wife,  sister  or  daughter  no  longer 
thrill  them  with  a  sense  of  manliness.  When  a  man 
deliberately  decides  to  seduce  a  woman,  he  becomes 
the  most  vicious  and  the  most  dangerous  man  in 
the  community.  I  would  not  place  anything  con¬ 
nected  with  the  well-being  of  the  individual,  the 
home,  society  or  tire  world1  ahead  of  female  virtue. 
Then  the  gambler,  drunkard-maker,  thief,  anarch¬ 
ist  or  traitor  is  not  to  be  compared  with  the  seducer 
of  female  virtue. 

There  are  no  words  in  my  vocabulary  that  can 
adequately  express  'the  depths  of  depravity  to 
which  men  must  descend  before  he  can  deliberately 
plan  and  contrive  to  seduce  the  wife  of  another 
man.  A  liveryman,  while  driving  me  a  few  days 
ago  in  front  of  a  nice  farm  house,  said :  “The  man 
who  rightfully  owns  that  beautiful  home  is  in 
Canada.  A  neighbor  ‘whom  he  took  into  his  home 
and  befriended,  led  his  wife  to  ruin.  I  found  that 
man  one  day  in  a  little  cluster  of  trees,  groaning  as 
if  his  heart  would  break.  To  get  as  far  as  he 
could  from1  the  scene  of  his  sorrow,  he  went  to 


FEKiFBOT  MlAiNEQOlOfD. 


95 


‘•Canada.”  Can  there  he  a  traitor  more  vile  than 
the  mam  who,  after  being  befriended,  aided  and 
helped,  turns  and  wrecks  the  character  of  the  wife 
or  daughter  of  his  benefactor?  Yet  this  is  often 
done. 

If  possible,  there  is  a  deeper  depth  of  depravity 
still.  I  refer  to  the  vilest  of  the  vile,  who,  when 
husband  and  father  is  dead,  and  wife  and  daugh¬ 
ters  are  left  without  a  strong  arm  to  protect  their 
virtue,  will  use  every  possible  means  to  lead  the 
husbandless  and  fatherless  astray.  If  you  should 
die  and  leave  your  wife  and  daughters  behind,  the 
law  would  protect  their  lives  and  property,  but 
their  virtue  would  be  in  great  danger.  While  you 
are  alive,  your  gun  is  a  safer  protection  to  the 
virtue  of  your  home  than  the  law  in  the  hands  of 
sensual  officials.  I  am  not  an  advocate  of  mob 
law,  (but  a  fearless  champion  of  woman’s  virtue. 

5.  Advice  to  Fathers.  '-God  says:  “My  people 
are  destroyed  for  lack  of  knowledge.”  Nowhere 
is  this  truth  more  evident  than  in  the  sin  of  going 
to  the  fallen  woman.  Every  boy  when  fifteen  or 
sixteen  should  be  carefully  informed  of  the  benefits 
of  a  white  life  and  the  fearful  consequences  of  as¬ 
sociating  with  the  scarlet  woman.  If  you  would 
have  your  boys  be  honest,  sober  and  truthful,  you 
must  teach  them  the  principles  of  honesty,  so¬ 
briety  and  truthfulness.  If  you  want  your  boys  to 
grow  up  to  be  continent  men,  instead  of  mastuba- 
tors  and  libertines,  you  must  teach  them  the  prin- 


PERFECT  MiAlNHOOD. 


m 

eiples  of  purity.  This  is  not  done  by  keeping  them 
in  ignorance  about  their  conscious  sexuality,  but 
by  informing  them  of  its  nature.  You  can  safely 
say  that  nine  out  of  ten  boys  fourteen  years  of 
age  have  heard  much  on  this  subject  from  the  vic¬ 
ious  and  impure.  Perhaps  not  one  boy  in  ten,  at 
this  ago,  has  had  his  natural  instructor,  his  own 
father,  to  have  a  confidential  talk  with  him,  or 
place  a  good  book  on  this  subject  in  his  hand  to 
read.  It  is  in  this  way  that  young  men  get  an  en¬ 
tirely  perverted  view  of  this  sin.  Being  falsely 
trained  by  the  vicious,  your  boy  gets  the  idea  that 
fornication  is  a  manly  act,  yes,  a  necessity;  and 
not  to  have  had  sexual  relation  with  a  woman  is  an 
unbearable  disgrace.  He  imagines  this  to  be  true ; 
he  thinks  it;  he  believes  it;  his  corrupt  companions 
have  taught  it;  his  associates  do  it,  why  not  he? 
How  take  a  look  at  God’s  picture  of  this  ignorant 
youth.  “He  goeth  after  her  straightway,  as  an 
ox  goeth  to  the  slaughter.  ...  as  a  bird  hasteneth 
to  the  snare.”  (Prov.  7  :22,  23.  Read  the  whole 
chapter.)'  God  says,  the  young  man  who  goes  to 
the  fallen  woman  has  no  more  intelligent  knowl¬ 
edge  of  what  will  be  the  result  of  his  visit  than  a 
dumb  ox  knows  that  it  is  for  his  life  when  he  is 
driven  to  the  slaughter  pen,  or  a  little  thoughtless 
bird,  decoyed  by  seed,  enters  a  snare. 

Don’t  forget  the  effects  of  the  mind  upon  the  re¬ 
productive  organs.  You  cannot  be  a  willing  lis¬ 
tener  to  the  lustful  stories  of  impure  men,  or  be 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


97 


impure  in  language  or  thought,  without  positive 
injury  to  your  morals.  These  impure  thoughts 
produce  a  moral  disease  in  the  mind,  and  the  extra 
amount  of  semen  caused!  by  this  sensual  state  of 
the  mind,  leads  to  a  physical  disease  of  the  sexual 
organs.  Thus  you  have  an  adulterer  in  heart, 
and  the  next  step,  to  become  an  adulterer  in  act,  is 
easy. 

Here  is  your  only  safety  :  ‘‘Let  not  thine  heart 
decline  to  her  ways,  go  not  astray  in  her  path..” 
(Prov.  7:25.)  Ho  human  hand  ever  stole  a  piece 
of  property  until  the  old  thief  on  the  inside  had 
committeed  the  deed,  then  the  hand  was  forced  to 
take  it.  Ho  man  ever  committed  adultery,  until 
the  adulterer  on  the  inside  had  broken  the  seven th 
commandlment,  then  the  external  organs  were 
forced  into  the  execution  of  the  deed. 

As  a  rule,  children  are  not  taught  purity,  but 
they  are  taught  impurity.  The  young  mind  is 
naturally  inquisitive.  When  a  very  small  boy  you 
began  to  make  inquiries  about  your  reproductive 
organs.  Your  children  naturally  inquire  about 
their  origin.  You  may  tell  them  that  the  doctor, 
or  some  old  woman,  brought  them,  or  some  other 
falsehood.  iSuch  answers  given  to  their  honest  in¬ 
quiries,  instead  of  satisfying  them  will  increase 
their  interest.  Perhaps  you  shame  them,  order 
them  from  your  presence  or  slap  them,  ibut  you 
only  lose  their  confidence  'and  drive  them  elsewhere 
for  the  information  they  want.  You  know  that 


98 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


children  will  have  this  information,  and  yon  know, 
or  should  know,  that  their  after  life,  pure  or  im¬ 
pure,  very  largely  depends  on  where  they  get  this 
information.  If  the  source  of  a  man’s  political 
instruction  is  democratic,  the  chances  are  that  he 
will  he  a  Democrat;  if  it  is  republican,  the  chances 
are  that  he  will  be  a  Republican.  In  either  event, 
his  only  hope  for  political  purity  is  political  re¬ 
generation.  Early  impressions  are  the  most  last¬ 
ing  and  the  most  influential.  The  after  life  is  but 
the  natural  unfolding  of  these  first  impressions. 

You  ask,  how  are  we  to  teach  these  things? 
When  your  child  is  old  enough  to  inquire  of  you 
as  to  its  origin,  it  has  mind  enough  to  comprehend 
some  elementary  explanations  of  the  origin  of 
plants.  If  you  have  never  studied  botany  enough 
to  know  the  names  of  the  reproductive  organs  of 
a  flower,  and  you  are  financially  able  to  be  the 
father  of  a  child,  then  you  are  able  to  invest  two 
dollars  in  two  books,  a  Botany  and  a  Zoology,  and 
in  a  few  days  you  can  learn  'God’s  plan  of  bringing 
the  young  plants  and  animals  into  being.  When 
your  child  begins  to  inquire  about  these  things, 
take  a  flower  and  show  it  all  of  the  parts,  tell  him 
the  names  and  uses  of  these  parts,  and  this  way 
make  it  plain  to  him  how  God  brings  all  the  little 
baby  plants  and  trees  into  being.  This  can  be  done 
in  such  a  delicate  way  that  the  sex  consciousness 
of  the  child  need  not  be  awakened.  Now,  tell  your 
child  that  when  it  gets  a  little  older  and  can  un- 


99 


PERFECT  MIAINIBGOO'D. 


derstand  more  about  God’s  plan  of  bringing  living 
things  into  existence,  that  you  will  give  him  a  little 
talk  about  the  fish  and)  the  way  they  come  into  the 
world.  Tell  him  that  when  he  gets  to  be  twelve 
years  old  you  will  tell  him  about  'God’s  plan  of 
bringing  in  children.  Ask  your  children,  and  have 
them  promise  you,  that  they  will  not  listen  to  any¬ 
thing  along  this  line  that  bad  boys  and  girls  want 
to  tell  them.  In  this  way  you  can  retain  their  con¬ 
fidence.  God  has  madb  them  with  an  instinctive 
confidence  in  papa  and  mamma.  Woe  and  sorrow 
will  come  to  the  parents  who  lose  or  betray  the  con¬ 
fidence  of  their  children. 

When  your  children  are  twelve,  in  some  cases 
before,  never  later,  if  they  are  fairly  precocious, 
explain  to  them  the  nature  of  the  organs  of  sex; 
tell  them  the  correct  names  of  all  the  parts ;  im¬ 
press  them  with  the  sacredness  of  these  organs. 
Tell  them  how  to  keep  them  clean,  what  things 
will  injure  them,  and  the  fearful  results  that  will 
follow.  'Let  them  know  in  a  delicate  way  that 
God  has  given  them  these  organs  so  they  can  be¬ 
come  fathers  and  mothers  and  have  smart,  healthy 
and  beautiful  children  when  they  grow  up  to  be 
men  and  women.  In  this  way  you  retain  their 
confidence  and  companionship.  Thus  you  teach 
them  to  hate  unchaste  speech  and  to  shun  the  asso¬ 
ciation  of  those  who  engage  in  filthy  conversation. 
Parents,  here  is  your  opportunity.  If  you  use  it 
rightly,  your  children  can  be  saved  from  a  life  of 


100 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


sensuality.  Is  it  not  mournfully  true  that  nine 
out  of  ten  -parents  neglect  this  all-important  part 
of  a  child’s  training?  From  ten  to  fifteen  years 
of  age  is  the  most  critical  part  of  the  child’s  sexual 
life,  and  consequently  its  physical,  mental  and 
moral  life.  If  it  passes  this  critical  period  safely, 
with  strong  convictions  on  sexual  purity,  you  have 
every  reason  to  feel  confident  of  your  child’s  fu¬ 
ture. 

6.  An  Appeal  for  a  Pure  Life.  In  one  of  my 
meetings  a  lady,  after  seeking  Christ  for  several 
days,  sought  an  interview  with  me  at  the  parson¬ 
age  parlor  and  related  this  sad,  sad  story ;  “I  am  a 
public  school  teacher  and  pass  for  a  widow.  I  am 
the  mother  of  a  little  girl,  but  have  never  been 
married.  After  'the  death  of  my  father  and  only 
brother,  my  mother,  sister  and  I  made  our  living 
by  keeping  boarders  in  a  college  town  in  the  State 

of  — - - A  young  man,  boarding  in  our  home, 

studying  law,  feigned  love  to  me,  and  won  my  con¬ 
fidence  and  affections.  Later,  we  were  engaged  to 
(be  married,  and  the  day  set  for  this  event  was  the 
day  of  his  graduation.  After  many  days  of  en¬ 
treaty,  he  led  me  to  believe  that  there  could  be 
nothing  sinful  or  criminal  in  our  enjoying  the 
marriage  act  before  the  mere  legal  phase  of  mar¬ 
riage  had  taken  place.  He  urged  that  we  were 
engaged,  the  day  set,  that  we  loved  and  trusted 
each  other,  and  that  others  did  this  before  mar¬ 
riage. 


PERFECT  MIAMHOOD 


101 


“Two  weeks  before  his  graduation  I  discovered 
that  I  was  to  become  a  mother,  and  plead  for  im¬ 
mediate  marriage.  He  insisted  that  we  wait  un¬ 
til  commencement,  as  it  was  but  two  weeks.  I 

yielded.  Meanwhile  he  told  me  that  he  had  made 

»/ 

all  arrangements  to  begin  the  practice  of  law  in 

the  town  of  — » - >  'State  of  — * — * — ;  also,  that 

he  had  arranged  to  have  our  home  furnished,  and 
suggested  that  we  be  married  on  -arrival  at  our 
new  home.  I  took  to  the  idea.  We  arrived  in  that 
town  about  midnight  and  a  hackman  drove  us  to 
our  new  home,  where  we  spent  the  night  as  hus¬ 
band  and  wife.  The  next  morning  he  suggested 
that  we  had  made  a  very  great  mistake,  and  to  get 
married  there  would  injure  us,  as  the  people 
would  find  out  that  we  had  spent  the  night  togeth¬ 
er.  He  then  promised  me,  that  as  soon  as  he  could 
get  settled  in  business,  we  would  take  a  trip  to  a 
distant  State  and  be  married.  I  still  trusted  him 
implicitly.  Later,  he  urged  that  we  wait  until  af¬ 
ter  the  birth  of  the  child.  I  reluctantly  yielded, 
but  still  trusted  him.  After  two  more  years  of  de¬ 
lay,  I  began  to  doubt  his  sincerity  and  love.  One 
day,  I  demanded  immediate  marriage  and  sternly 
refused  every  suggestion  of  postponement,  refusing 
to  live  with  him  longer  unless  lawfully  married. 
He  then  told  me  that  he  had  never  loved  me,  and 
had  never  thought  of  marrying  me.  He  left  the 
town  one  night  for  parts  unknown.  Through  a 
friend,  I  afterward  located  him,  and  tried  by  cor- 


102 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


respondence  to  get  'him  to  meet  me  somewhere  and 
marry  me,  even  if  he  did!  not  tcare  to  live  with  me, 
that  his  little  girl  and  I  might  have  his  legal  name. 
He  refused.  I  then  sent  my  little  girl  to  my  moth¬ 
er  and  explained  that  husband  and  I  were  parted. 
I  am  now  using  his  name  and  passing  here  as  a 
widow.  I  want  to  be  a  Christian  and  unite  with 
the  churchy  but  if  I  have  my  maiden  name  placed 
on  the  church  register,  people  will  find  out  what 
I  have  done  and  I  will  be  ruined.  If  I  place  the 
name  that  I  am  now  going  by  upon  the  register, 
I  will  be  practicing  a  lie.  How,  Bro.  Shannon, 
tell  me,  what  am  I  to  do?”  I  tried  to  get  her  to 
relate  this  to  the  church.  She  shrank  from  it.  I 
tried  to  get  her  consent  for  me  to  explain  the  con¬ 
dition  in  which  she  was  placed.  But  she  insisted 
that  such  a  step  would  lead  to  the  loss  of  her  po¬ 
sition  as  a  teacher  and  the  respect  of  the  people. 
She  then  gave  me  the  name  of  the  Southern  city 
where  the  man  who  had  ruined  her  was  practicing 
law,  and  promised  me  that  if  I  could  induce  him 
to  meet  and  marry  her,  she  would  for  the  sake  of 
his  name  make  him  a  loving  and  true  wife,  or 
would  agree  to  live  forever  separate.  Then  she 
said,  “Bro.  Shannon,  when  you  write  to  him  don’t 
mention  that  you  are  a  minister  or  that  I  am  inter¬ 
ested  in  becoming  a  Christian.  He  does  not  believe 
in  such  things.”  What  a  consolation  it  must  be 
to  such  a  man  to  foe  able  to  believe  there  is  no 
God,  no  heaven  and  no  hell.  If  there  is  the  merest 

w 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


103 


shadow  of  reigning  justice  in  the  universe,  there 
must  -be  a  hell  for  such  a  vicious  character.  A  reg¬ 
istered  letter  was  sent  him,  but  no  reply  was  re¬ 
ceived.  I  have  no  knowledge  of  where  the  poor, 
injured,  wronged  woman  is  today,  or  whether  or 
not  she  has  ever  found  her  Lord,  but  if  there  be  a 
coming  judgment  to  be  presided  over  by  an  abso¬ 
lutely  just  Judge,  this  man  will  meet  with  justice. 

I  have  in  my  mind  two  crimes  committed  in  the 
same  year  and  in  a  few  miles  of  each  other.-  The 
first  was  a  case  of  deception  in  a  love  affair.  The 
young  man  left  the  young  woman  to  bear  her 
shame  among  her  acquaintances  and  in  the  home 
of  her  broken-hearted  parents.  Death  came  to  her 
relief  after  she  had  evidently  tried  to  get  rid  of 
six  months  of  unborn  life.  The  citizens  did  not 
express  their  indignation  by  threats  of  mob  vio¬ 
lence,  the  officers  made  no  immediate  effort  to 
bring  him  to  justice. 

The  second  was  where  a  young  man  killed  an 
entire  family  while  frenzied  with  anger.  T'o  pro¬ 
tect  him'  from  mob  violence,  the  officers  spirited 
him  from  the  county.  There  was  more  deliberate 
planning  and  deception  in  the  first  than  in  the  sec¬ 
ond.  No  one  questioned  the  sanity  of  the  first; 
they  did  question  the  sanity  of  the  second.  The 
crime  of  the  first  led  his  victim  to  forfeit  the 
priceless  gem  of  virtue,  led  to  her  death  and  the 
death  of  her  unborn,  and  to  life-long  sorrow  and 
shame  upon  her  family.  The  crime  of  the  second 


104 


PERFECT  MJAQSTtEDO'OOD. 


did  not  lead  this  victims  to  forfeit  any  part  of  their 
character  or  bring  shame  and  dishonor  upon  thei  r 
loved  ones.  The  heart-aches  and  sad  recollections 
caused  by  the  first  will  be  life-long;  in  the  second 
case  these  things  will  fast  fade  from  memory. 
The  first  class  of  criminals  usually  go  free,  or,  at 
least,  meet  'with  a  very  inadequate  penalty.  The 
second  class  of  criminals  meet  speedy  justice  at 
the  hands  of  law  or  of  a  mob.  Legislators  make 
laws  against  the  second  class,  with  adequate  penal¬ 
ties,  against  the  firstclass  the  lawrs  are  weak  and 
the  penalties  inadequate.  This  is  the  dilemma  that 
female  virtue  faces  today.  When  yellow  fever  or 
cholera  breaks  out  in  our  homes,  Congress  and  the 
Legislatures  come  to  our  rescue;  but  multiplied 
thousand's  of  our  pure  girls  can  be  sacrificed,  body, 
mind  and  soul,  for  the  want  of  wholesome  laws 
with  adequate  penalties.  If  capital  punishment  is 
justifiable  as  a  penalty  for  any  crime,  it  is  for  the 
crime  of  wrecking  a  woman’s  character.  Is  any 
mans  life  worth  the  character  of  your  mother, 
wdfe,  daughter  or  sister  ?  Every  grain  of  manhood 
in  you  replies  with  an  emphatic  NO.  Then  the 
man  who  designingly  takes  the  advantage  of  a 
woman  in  any  way  and  wrecks  her  character  should 
forfeit  his  own  life.  As  a  minimum)  penalty  for 
any  case  of  rape,  seduction  or  deception  in  a  love 
affair,  unless  this  last  case  is  -  compromised  by 
marriage,  the  guilty  man  should  be  denuded  of  his 
procreative  powers.  In  some  cases,  he  should  also 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


105 


be  miade  to  spend  a  term  of  years  in  the  pen.  The 
man  who  cannot  or  will  not  control  himself  should 
be  controlled.  A  lawyer  once  objected]  to  my 
suggestion  of  sterilization  as  a  penalty  for  these 
sins,  saying,  “No  law  should  be  made  with  inhu¬ 
man  penalties.”  I  wonder  if  breaking  a  man’s 
neck,  or  passing  several  hundred  volts  of  electrici¬ 
ty  through  a  man’s  'body  is  a  more  humane  form 
of  punishment  than  I  have  suggested.  After  a 
man  has  reached  maturity  he  would  suffer  but  lit¬ 
tle  inconvenience  from  being  deprived  of  his  pow¬ 
ers  of  procreation.  Men  dread  this  form  of  pun¬ 
ishment  because  of  the  shame  and  humiliation  at¬ 
tached  to  it.  After  paying  this  penalty  once  he 
would  never  repeat  the  crime. 

Hear  the  appeal  of  a  son,  a  brother,  a  husband 
and  a  father;  for  the  sake  of  your  precious  mother, 
darling  wife,  pure  daughters  and  noble  sisters, 
bring  your  passions  under  subjection  and  live  a 
■white  life.  You  are  some  mother’s  'boy;  I  am  some 
mother’s  boy.  -Some  mother  exposed  her  life  to  the 
imminence  of  dteath  in  order  to  bring  you  into  be¬ 
ing.  That  mother  hovered  over  you  like  a  loving 
angel  from  'God  and  nourished  and  cared  for  you 
when  you  could  not  care  for  yourself.  Your  moth¬ 
er  may  now  be  old  and  at  the  old  home  a  thousand 
miles  awray,  but  she  loves  and  pra}rs  for  you  still. 
She  may  have  crossed  over  into  the  spirit  world, 
but  she  is  your  mother  still.  If  some  man  had 
soiled  the  virtue  of  your  mother  before  you  were 


106 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


bom,  or  when  you  were  an  innocent  little  child, 
your  mother  would  have  suffered  an  irreparable 
moral  blight,  and  a  lifetime  of  humiliation  and  in¬ 
expressible  heart-ache  would  have  been  your  inev¬ 
itable  lot  in  life.  Can  you  take  an  honest  look  at 
what  might  have  been,  if  some  man  had  ruined 
your  mother’s  character,  and  then  can  you  turn 
and  soil  the  white  feather  of  some  woman’s  virtue  ? 
Do  you  know  what  the  word  wife  means?  What 
the  word  sister  means?  What  the  word  daughter 
means  ?  Men,  what  causes  that  feeling  of  murder 
to  grasp  your  being  when  you  think  of  the  bare 
possibility  that  some  man  may  now  be  planning  to 
rob  them  of  their  virtue?  I  will  tell  you.  It  is 
something  innate  in  the  bosom  of  every  man,  I  care 
not  how  depraved)  he  may  be,  saying:  “You  are 
woman’s  protector.”  If  another  man  deserves  to 
be  shot  for  plucking  the  lily  of  purity  from  the 
brow  of  your  wife,  sister  or  daughter,  do  you  not 
deserve  the  same  treatment  when  you  violate  the 
honor  of  another  man’s  wife,  sister  or  daughter  ? 

Perhaps,  some  man  replies :  “I  would1  not  take 
the  virtue  of  a  pure  woman;  I  seek  sexual  grati¬ 
fication  among  fallen  women.”  Every  poor  fallen 
woman  is  some  mother’s  girl.  She  was  once  as 
pure  as  your  sister,  wife  or  mother.  'Some  mother 
once  pressed  her  to  her  heart  and  kissed  her  inno¬ 
cent  little  lips.  'Some  fond  father  once  dandled 
her  on  his  knee  and’  proudly  called  her  “darling.” 
Do  you  reply:  “She  has  brought  on  her  own  so- 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


107 


cial  ostracism  and  hag  voluntarily  placed  her  body 
on  the  market;  -and  that  you  are  not  responsible 
for  her  sins  ?”  If  you  could  hear  the  patheic  story 
of  her  fall;  how  some  well-dressed  and  accom¬ 
plished  libertine,  under  solemn  promise  of  mar¬ 
riage,  oft-repeated,  seduced  and  ruined  her  •  if  you 
could  think  of  her  enforced  exclusion  from  society 
and  home,  discarded  by  parents,  brothers  and-  sis¬ 
ters  ;  if  you  could  think  of  the  anguish  of  her  poor 
soul  at  the  close  of  a  life  of  shame;  you  would 
be  a  fallen  woman’s  friend  and  would  seek  her 
rescue  from,  her  present  and  eternal  ruin. 


.108 


PERFECT  MAMHJOOB. 


CHAPTER  IV 

IMPAIRED  AND  WRECKED  MANHOOD  REGAINED. 

1.  The  Christ  Cure.  Can  the  impure  man  be 
pure  again?  Can  manhood,  when  once  impaired 
or  wrecked,  be  restored?  To  the  first  question  I 
answer  unreservedly,  yea  To  the  second  question ; 
yes,  with  some  qualifications.  The  first  question 
is  purely  a  moral  one.  OSTo  man  ever  made  himself 
pure.  Christ  alone  can  atone  for  past  sins,  cleanse 
the  heart  and  keep  it  pure.  Restoring  moral  puri¬ 
ty  is  God’s  work  and  can  be  done  instantly  and 
completely.  The  second  question  is  largely  a  men¬ 
tal  and  physical  one.  This  mental  and  physical 
wreckage  of  manhood  has  many  causes  of  which 
sexual  abuse  is  by  far  the  most  prolific.  It  is 
wrecked  manhood  due  to  a  violation  of  the  laws 
of  sex,  with  Which  I  am  dealing.  The  sins  and 
sinful  habits,  which  have  produced  so  much  lost 
manhood,  were  gradually  formed  and  have  grad¬ 
ually  resulted  in  a  diseased  condition  of  the  entire 
reproductive  system,  as  well  as  of  the  other  or¬ 
gans  of  the  body.  Restoring  mental  and  physical 
soundness  is  the  work  of  nature,  and  must,  at  least 
without  special  Divine  interposition,  be  done 
gradually.  What  required  years  to  do,  cannot  be 
undone  humanly  in  a  day.  The  length  of  time  re¬ 
quired  and  the  thoroughness  of  nature’s  cure,  will 


PERFECT  MiAINHOOD. 


109 


depend  upon  the  degree  of  injury  you  have  sus¬ 
tained  by  violating  nature's  laws  and  the  unham¬ 
pered  opportunity  you  give  nature  to  restore  you. 
When  man  begins  to  violate  the  laws  of  nature, 
nature  tries  to  counteract  the  evil  effects.  Were 
this  not  true,  tobacco,  whiskey,  morphine,  opium 
and  sensual  fiends  would  wreck  themselves  much 
sooner  than  they  do.  When  man  ceases  to  violate 
the  laws  of  nature,  nature  at  once  begins  the  work 
of  recuperation.  The  effects  of  a  limited  course 
of  sin  upon  the  body  and  mind  may  be  entirely 
restored)  by  nature.  I  would  not  say  that  nature 
can  never  fully  eradicate  the  effects  of  a  long  and 
excessive  course  of  sexual  abuse  upon  the  body  and 
mind.  If  given  a  fair  show,  however,  nature  will 
check  the  progress  of  debility,  help  you  husband 
your  remaining  strength,  and  aid  you  in  adding 
to  your  present  vitality. 

These  two  means  of  recovery  -are  vitally  impor¬ 
tant.  God  is  the  author  of  both.  Of  the  two,  the 
first  is  of  primary  importance.  With  restored  spir¬ 
itual  manhood,  the  recovery  of  mental  and  physi¬ 
cal  manhood  will  be  easier. 

How  can  perfect  manhood  be  restored  ?  Let  God 
answer.  As  a  man  “thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he.” 
“Let  not  thine  heart  decline  to  her  ways.”  “Out 
of  the  heart  proceedeth  evil  thoughts,  murders, 
adulteries,  fornication.”  Then  the  heart  is  the 
fountain  of  all  sin.  As  long  as  this  fountain  is 
impure,  the  thoughts,  words  and  actions  will  be 


110 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


impure.  Has  Cod  made  previsions  for  the  restor¬ 
ation  of  perfect  spiritual  manhood?  "If  we  con¬ 
fess  our  sins,  He  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us 
our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteous¬ 
ness.”  "The  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  makes 
me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.”  "And  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  that  whosoever  shall  call  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  he  delivered.”  Have 
courage,  my  brother.  Banish  every  doubt  and 
fear.  Don’t  hesitate.  \Say  with  the  prodigal:  "I 
will  arise  and  go  to  my  Father.”  This  "I  will” 
was  the  definite  starting  point  in  the  new  life  of 
the  prodigal.  Ho  man  ever  became  a  Christian 
until  he  asserted  the  "I  will.”  No  man  ever  broke 
away  from  a  vicious  habit  until  he  asserted  the 
"I  will.”  No  man  ever  accomplished  anything 
that  was  great,  noble  and  good,  without  the  asser¬ 
tion  "I  will.”  If  you  will  assert  that  Cod-given, 
regal  "I  will,”  there  is  hope  for  you.  Say  it  and 
mean  it,  "I  will;”  let  ^hy-gones  be  by-gones  for¬ 
ever;  but  in  the  future,  with  Cod’s  help,  my  rec¬ 
ord  *shall  be  clean.” 

2.  A  Perfectly  Natural  Cure.  The  first  thing  a 
doctor  does,  when  called  into  the  sickroom,  is  to 
make  a  diagnosis  of  the  patient’s  case.  The  pre¬ 
cautions,  preventatives  and  the  remedial  agencies 
used  will  depend  upon  his  knowledge  of  the  case. 
Wrecked  manhood  is  almost  entirely  due  to  the  ex¬ 
haustion  of  vitality  in  the  body,  and  debility  of 
the  nervous  system,  resulting  from  sexual  abuse. 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


Ill 


In  every  discharge  of  semen,  there  is  the  loss  of 
life-force  and  nutritious  material.  Every  discharge 
of  semen  reduces  one’s  vitality  and  deprives  him  of 
nutrition.  The  entire  nervous  system  is  in  a  se¬ 
vere  strain  during  sexual  excitement,  and  meets 
with  a  severe  shock  at  the  time  of  an  orgasm. 
Hence  an  orgasm  is  succeeded  by  more  or  less  of 
exhaustion,  lassitude  and  prostration. 

In  the  natural  exercise  of  any  normal  organ,  the 
recuperative  forces  replace  all  losses  caused  by 
the  exercise,  and  thus  the  organ  is  kept  in  a  healthy 
condition.  If  the  exercise  is  pushed  beyond  the 
limit  of  recuperation  ,the  organ  wears  out  faster 
than  nature  can  build  it  up.  The  reproductive  or¬ 
gans  of  little  boys  are  in  a  dormant  or  latent  con¬ 
dition  until  puberty.  It  is  self-evident  that  passion 
should  never  be  felt  by  them  until  puberty.  Pas¬ 
sion  before  puberty  is  unnatural  and  positively  in¬ 
jurious.  The  undeveloped  condition  of  their  bod¬ 
ies  and  minds,  and  the  relation  of  this  vital  and 
nutritious  semen  to  the  perfect  development  of 
every  organ  of  their  bodies  and  every  faculty  of 
their  minds,  is  proof  that  semen  should  never  es¬ 
cape  from  their  bodies  until  they  are  matured. 
When  physically  matured),  every  healthy,  sane, 
moral  man  should  marry,  unless  he  has  some  jus¬ 
tifiable  reason  for  not  doing  so. 

•In  a  case  of  wrecked  manhood,  caused  by  th? 
secret  sin,  the  man  has  seminal  weakness  or  sper¬ 
matorrhea.  In  this  condition,  the  testicles  are  tak- 


PERFECT  MAiHEDOOD. 


ing  from  the  blood1  many  time's  as  much  vitality 
and  nourishment,  as  nature  ever  intended  should 
take  place.  Only  a  limited  portion  of  this  semen 
can  be  .reabsorbed.  With  gorged  duets  and  vesci- 
cles,  passion  is  constantly  excited.  Relief  is  had 
in  the  secret  sin,  fornication,  marital  excess,  or 
seminal  emissions.  In  this  way  man’s  vitality  is 
being  reduced  and  his  nervous  system  debilitated. 
Many  sensual  men  are  conscious  of  nervous  debili¬ 
ty,  but  because  they  discover  no  loss  of  semen, 
think  their  trouble  is  due  to  some  other  cause.  Let 
such  men  quit  their  sexual  excesses,  and  they  will 
then  detect  their  loss  of  semen.  Involuntary  emis¬ 
sions  are  impossible,  when  all  the  semen  formed 
is  disposed  of  by  voluntary  acts.  But  the  results 
are  all  the  same. 

Restored  manhood  is  possible  just  to  the  extent 
that  the  reproductive  system  can  be  restored  to  a 
normal  condition.  The  reproductive  system  is  nor¬ 
mal  when  the  testicles  are  secreting  no  more  se¬ 
men  than  nature  has  provided.  In  this  normal 
condition,  very  little  vitality  and  nourishment  is 
removed  from  the  blood,  and  what  is  taken  up  by 
the  testicles  is  nearly,  if  not  quite,  all  reabsorbed 
and  thrown  back  into  the  system  in  a  greatly  im¬ 
proved  condition.  It  is  now  clear  that  if  the  repro¬ 
ductive  system  of  an  impaired  or  wrecked  man  can 
be  reduced  to  a  normal  condition,  his  recovery, 
partial  or  complete,  will  be  a  natural  one.  No 
pills,  powders,  drinks,  tonics,  or  electric  appli- 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


113 


ances  are  necessary  to  a  cure.  No  doctor  need  be 
consulted  or  employed'.  A  cure  by  Dr.  Nature 
is  your  only  hope.  If  you  wish  to  consult  with  an 
intelligent  home  physician,  no  special  harm  will  be 
done  by  the  homeopathic  treatment  he  will  give 
you.  But  the  only  good  you  will  get  will  be  in  the 
encouragement  and  advice  he  will  give.  Life, 
money  and  time  are  too  valuable  to  be  sacrificed  on 
advertising  medical  quacks  and  charlatans.  Dis¬ 
continue  their  service,  bum  their  pamphlets  and 
cease  reading  their  advertisements  in  the  dailies 
and  sensational  papers. 

Dr.  Kellogg  says:  “If  drugs,  per  se,  will  cure 
invalids  of  any  class,  they  are  not  satisfactory  in 
this  class  of  patients.  The  whole  materia  medica 
affords  no  root,  herb,  extract,  or  compound  that, 
alone,  will  cure  a  person  suffering  from  emissions. 
Thousands  of  unfortunates  have  been  ruined  by 
long-continued  drugging.” 

Dr.  Dio  Lewis  says:  “The  victims  of  sper¬ 
matorrhea  must  not  hope  for  relief  in  the  use  of 
medicines,  but  must  seek  restoration  in  determined 
abstinence  from  all  sexual  indulgences  and  libidi¬ 
nous  fancies,  conjoined  to  a  faithful  observance  of 
the  laws  of  health.  One  of  the  obstacles  to  a  cure 
in  this  common  and  afflicting  malady  is  the  notion 
that  the  disease  may  be  gotten  rid  of  by  opening 
the  mouth  and  (swallowing  medicine.  The  patient 
cannot  understand  you  when  you  assure  him  that 
he  must  cure  himself .  All  the  specific  medicines. 


FEEFBCT  MANHOOD. 


114 

patent  ring,  cauterizations,  etc.,  are  each  and  all  a 
deception  and  a  snare  ” 

1.  Marriage  Not  a  ‘Cure.  If  your  debilitated'  con¬ 
dition  is  due  to  impure  thoughts  and  masturba¬ 
tion,  keeping  a  mistress,  going  to  the  scarlet 
home,  marital  excess,  getting  married  will  not  cure 
you.  In  either  of  these  cases  you  substitute  one 
form  of  seminal  loss  for  another ;  the  nervous  sys¬ 
tem  is  under  the  same  strain;  the  entire  system 
is  still  being  exhausted!  of  vitality  and  nourish¬ 
ment,  and  the  blackest  sin  becomes  a  voluntary  act, 
in  which  two  participate.  A  doctor  who  will  ad¬ 
vise  a  young  man  to  go  to  the  fallen  woman  or 
keep  a  mistress,  as  a  remedy  for  masturbation, 
should  be  socially  ostracized]. 

For  a  man  who  has  seminal  weakness  to  marry 
would  be  to  encourage  his  passions,  ruin  his  own 
health  and  the  health  of  his  wife,  and  to  transmit 
to  his  offspring,  if  it  be  possible  for  him  to  beget 
children,  weak  and  feeble  'Constitutions.  If  a  man 
has  occasional  seminal  emissions,  which  do  not 
impair  his  general  health,  marriage  would  be  the 
best  step  he  could  take,  but  moderation  must  be 
maintained  in  the  married  life.  I  would  advise 
every  man  who  has  seminal  weakness,  as  soon  as 
he  has  quit  the  habit,  and  nature  has  in  a  reasona¬ 
ble  way  restored  his  general  health,  to  get  married. 

2.  Nature’s  Recovery  Begun.  All  voluntary 
acts  are  under  the  control  of  the  will.  Man’s 
Supremacy  over  himself  lies  in  his  ability  to  will 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


115 


to  control  his  voluntary  thoughts  and  acts.  Na¬ 
ture  cannot  restore  you  as  long  as  you  consent  to 
violate  her  laws.  You  must  rise  to  your  true  man¬ 
hood  and  resolve  to  cease  all  sexual  gratification 
outside  of  moderation,  in  the  married  life.  You 
may  break  your  resolutions  a  few  times.  If  so,  re¬ 
solve  again.  Victory  will  crown  a  persistent  ef¬ 
fort  to  quit. 

Having  resolved  to  quit  all  sexual  abuse,  it  is 
necessary  for  you  to  avoid  everything  that  will 
awaken  passion.  To  do  this,  you  need  to  under¬ 
stand  the  relation  of  your  thought  and  imagination 
to  your  passions.  It  is  impossible  to  have  pas¬ 
sion  when  your  mind  is  entirely  on  something 
else.  With  the  mind  filled  with  hide  thoughts  and 
wishes,  passions  may  be  aroused,  even  when  the 
privates  are  in  cool  water.  Getting  control  of 
your  thoughts  and  imagination  will  depend  upon 
your  determination  to  persistently  will  to  think 
about  other  things.  Suggestions  of  impure  things 
will  come;  but,  do  not  welcome  them;  refuse  to 
entertain  them  even  for  a  moment.  By  the  exer¬ 
cise  of  the  will,  banish  them  from  your  mind. 

Your  mind  cannot  be  idle  and  at  the  same  time 
be  pure.  If  you  have  not  decided  upon  your  voca¬ 
tion  for  life,  do  it  now.  If  you  are  a  farmer,  mer¬ 
chant,  mechanic,  doctor,  lawyer,  cultivate  an  in¬ 
terest  in  your  occupation.  Resolve  to  be  a  leader 
in  your  line  of  work.  Provide  yourself  with  some 
good  books  and  papers  applicable  to  your  calling, 


116 


PERFECT  manhood. 


and  spend  much  of  your  moments  of  recreation 
reading  them.  All  victims  of  seminal  weakness 
are  inclined  to  be  gloomy  and  despondent.  You 
can  overcome  this  iby  assiduously  cultivating  a 
feeling  of  hopefulness  and  cheerfulness.  Your 
mind  may  he  sluggish  and  stupid,  but  it  will  re¬ 
spond  to  reasonable  mental  application.  Keep  a 
few  good  books  and  papers  about  you  to  read  at  in¬ 
tervals.  Read  the  Bilble  and  cultivate  the  con¬ 
sciousness,  “Thou  'God  seest  me  in  all  things.” 

I  said,  evil  thoughts  will  come.  But,  it  should 
be  remembered  that  every  mental  phenomenon  is 
an  effect,  for  which  there  is  a  cause.  If  you  would 
avoid  the  effects  of  evil  thoughts,  as  far  as  possible 
you  must  avoid  their  causes.  If  you  read  sensa¬ 
tional  novels  and  papers  containing  unholy  love 
affairs,  divorce  plots  and  illicit  relations  between 
men  and  women,  you  will  not  be  able  to  have  pure 
thoughts.  The  costumes  of  the  actress  and  her 
performances  upon  the  stage,  make  direct  appeals 
to  a  man’s  sexual  nature.  Stay  away  from  the 
theatres.  Burn  every  semi-nude  female  picture  in 
your  possession.  Don’t  hide  them  away  in  your 
trunk.  By  accident  you  might  see  them  again,  or 
you  might  be  tempted  to  again  look  at  them.  If 
it  is  the  picture  of  your  “best  girl,”  burn  it  and 
discard  her,  unless  she  will  give  you  a  decent  one. 
Remember  that  no  man  with  sem'inal  weakness 
can  keep  his  mind  pure  very  long  in  the  presence 
of  an  improperly-dressed  woman.  It  is  manly  to 


) 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


117 


be  a  coward  and  run  when  in  imminent  danger. 
(Such  women  have  made  masturbators,  libertines 
and  fornicators  of  thousands  of  stronger  men  than 
you. 

3.  Food  and  Drink.  There  are  certain  physical 
causes  of  impure  thought  and  passion.  One  having 
seminal  weakness  must  exercise  care  and  wisdom 
in  regard  to  his  food  and  drink.  Certain  foods 
heat  the  blood  and  furnish  materials  especially 
suited  to  the  formation  of  semen.  This  class  ol 
foods  should  be  avoided.  Abstain  from  pork  and 
all  fat  meats;  use  beef  and  mutton  sparingly. 
Abstain  from  fried  gravies,  rich  pastries,  stimulat¬ 
ing  condiments,  such  as  pepper,  mustard,  etc.,  also 
coffee,  tea  -and  all  alcoholic  drinks.  Drink  water 
and  milk.  Eat  vegetables,  fruits,  toast,  sweet  but¬ 
ter,  and  fresh  eggs.  Eat  moderate  meals  for 
breakfast  and  dinner;  supper  should  be  a  light 
meal. 

4.  Stimulants  and  Narcotics.  I  have  never 
examined  a  medical  work  on  seminal  weakness  in 
which  the  author  did  not  speak  of  these  as  being 
causes  of  passion,  and  prohibiting  them  in  the 
treatment  of  seminal  weakness.  Even  the  adver¬ 
tising  medical  quacks  all  advise  that  the  use  of 
them  be  discontinued  by  those  who  hope  for  a 
cure.  There  are  three  ways  of  quitting  the  to¬ 
bacco  and  whiskey  habit,  by  the  exercise  of  the 
will  and  the  grace  of  God.  Quitting  instantly  by 
the  exercise  of  the  will  alone.  By  the  exercise  of 


118 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


the  will  in  a  gradual  way.  Where  one  is  a  Chris¬ 
tian  and  will  take  the  matter  to  Cod  in  -prayer  no 
doubt  the  -grace  of  Cod  will  help  him  to  get  vic¬ 
tory  over  the  habit.  Where  one  can,  let  him  will 
to  quit  at  once  and  forever.  If  he  is  in  a  condi¬ 
tion  where  he  cannot  use  either  of  these,  let  him 
adopt  the  gradual  method.  In  this  last  way,  one 
must  will  to  quit.  Ascertain  the  amount  you  use 
a  week ;  then  take  off  ten  per  cent  each  week,  un¬ 
til  the  tenth  week. 

5.  ■Bathing.  Cleanliness  of  the  body,  and,  es¬ 
pecially  the  sexual  organs,  is  essential  in  seminal 
weakness.  -Cold  water  is  to  be  preferred  to  warm 
or  tepid  water,  especially  in  'bathing  the  sexual 
organs.  Warm  water  causes  the  skin  to  relax  and 
the  blood1  to  flow  to  the  parts.  This  is  just  what 
you  -do  not  want.  If  the  system]  can  stand  a  quick, 
all-over  cold  water  bath  followed  by  a  brisk  rub¬ 
bing  with  a  towel,  until  there  is  a  warm  glow  felt 
all  Over  the  surface  of  the  body,  this  is  the  best 
bath  of  all.  If  there  is  passion,  the  generative 
organs  may  be  bathed  several  times  a  day  with 
cold  water  to  advantage. 

6.  Sleep.  Retire  early  and  sleep  all  you  can. 
Don^t  stay  in  bed  after  you  awake  in  the  morn- 
ing,  get  up  at  once  and  engage  your  mind  or  body 
in  some  kind  of  work.  Sleep  on  a  hard  bed,  never 
on  a  soft  one,  and  use  as  little  cover  as-  you  can 
with  comfort.  If  there  is  danger  of  emissions 
at  night,  the  supper  should  be  light  and  no  fluid 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


119 


taken  into  the  stomach  after  supper.  Empty  the 
bladder  and  rectum  just  before  retiring.  Sleep 
on  the  side,  never  on  the  back.  The  prostate  gland 
and  seminal  vesicles,  being  between  the  bladder 
and  rectum,  are  pressed  when  these  organs  be¬ 
come  full  during  the  night,  if  the  man  is  sleeping 
on  his  back.  This  pressure  is  avoided  by  sleeping 
on  the  side.  Seminal  emissions  rarely  ever  occur 
while  one  is  sleeping  on  his  side. 

7.  Constipation.  One  of  the  most  frequent 
physical  causes  of  passion  is  constipation.  When 
the  rectum  is  engorged  with  hard-  excrementitious 
matter  and  the  bladder  is  filled  writh  urine,  the 
prostate  gland  and  seminal  vesicles  are  pressed 
against  this  hard  matter  in  the  rectum.  In  this 
condition,  seminal  emissions  occur  easily,  and 
there  is  often  an  exudation  of  fluid  when  at  stool. 
The  rectum  should  be  kept  free  from  the  accumu¬ 
lation  of  this  hard  foecal  matter.  A  regular  habit 
of  going  to  stool  will  help  in  this  trouble.  Eat 
an  abundance  of  fruit  and  drink  two  or  three 
cups  of  quite  warm  water  a  day. 

In  stubborn  eases,  an  injection  of  one  or  two 
quarts  of  warm  water  in  the  rectum,  by  means 
of  a  fountain  syringe,  is  much1  better  than  pills. 


120 


PERFECT  M^MOCKD. 


CHAPTER  V. 

SOME  PRACTICAL  QUESTIONS  ANSWERED. 

Having  received  s'o  many  letters  of  inquiry 
from  young  men,  tlie  author  has  decided  that  it 
would  be  wise  in  this  revision  of  Perfect  Man¬ 
hood  to  devote  one  chapter  to  answering  many 
questions  asked  by  young  men.  'Some  of  these 
questions  may  be  really  ‘answered  in  the  main 
body  of  the  book,  but  for  convenience,  clearness 
and  emphasis  they  are  given  here. 

1.  When  does  the  vital  fluid  become  fertile? — 
From  the  age  of  seventeen  to  eighteen.  At  this 
time  the  boy  could  become  a  father.  Being  in 
the  transition  period  between  boyhood  and  man¬ 
hood,  more  a  boy  than  a  man,  he  could  not  trans¬ 
mit  the  best  heredity  to  his  child.  If  the  mother 
was  matured,  healthy  and  strong,  she  would  in  a 
measure  overcome  the  bad  heredity  of  the  father. 
At  the  best  the  child  would  have  to  suffer  the 
mistake  or  sin  of  an  immature  father. 

2.  At  what  age  should  a  young  man  marry? — 
The  fact  that  his  sexual  energy,  during  the  ten 
years  of  adolescence,  has  been  such  an  important 
factor  in  developing  a  full  physical  and  mental 
manhood  shows  that  nature  points  to  the  age  of 
twenty-four  or  five  as  the  ideal.  Under  present 
social  conditions  it  is  not  possible  for  all  young 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


121 


men  to  assume  the  responsibilities  of  home  build¬ 
ing  at  the  ideal  age  of  twenty-five.  Those  young 
men,  who  are  preparing  for  some  special  occupa¬ 
tion,  calling  or  profession  that  requires  some  four 
or  five  years  of  apprenticeship  or  college  educa¬ 
tion,  must  postpone  marriage  until  the  age  of 
twenty-eight  or  thirty.  This  is  rather  a  misfor¬ 
tune  of  this  social  age. 

3.  At  what  age  should  a  young  lady  get  mar¬ 
ried? — The  puberty  period  coming  on  the  girl  at 
the  age  of  twelve  or  thirteen  and  the  adolescence 
period  being  slightly  shorter,  nature  indicates  an 
earlier  age ;  nineteen  to  twenty-one. 

4.  Is  there  any  sure  way  to  control  the  sex  of 
the  offspring? — Many  theories  have  been  advoca¬ 
ted  in  the  past.  Most  all  have  been  exploded. 
Medical  men  find  none  of  them  to  be  reliable.  Sex 
is  not  determined  by  accident.  Some  definite  law 
governs  the  sex  of  a  child.  Should  the  law  ever 
be  discovered,  it  will  most  likely  be  beyond  man’s 
control. 

5.  What  is  the  difference  between  a  natural 
and  an  unnatural  emission? — A  natural  emission 
is  largely  composed  of  the  secretions  from  the 
seminal  vessels  and  contains  little  or  none  of  the 
secretions  from  the  testicles.  The  unnatural  emis¬ 
sions  contain  all  of  the  elements  of  a  complete 
discharge  of  semen.  The  natural  emission  is  not 
injurious,  the  other  is.  The  first  results  from  the 
gorged  condition  of  the  seminal  vessels,  the  second 


122 


EEEiFtElOT  MANHOOD. 


results  from  sexual  excitement  or  passion.  The 
secretion  contained]  in  the  natural  emission  is 
formed!  naturally  and  constantly  'by  the  seminal 
vessels.  In  healthy  young  men  all  of  this  is  not 
absorbed  and  the  surplus  escapes  one,  two,  three 
or  even  four  times  a  month  without  any  injury. 
If  the  young  man  has  indulged  in  lascivious 
thoughts,  practiced  the  secret  sin  or  associated 
writh  the  prostitute  for  a  period1  of  time,  all  of 
his  sexual  glands  are  secreting  too  much  energy 
and  his  emissions  are  unnatural  and  injurious. 

6.  Are  there  some  young  men  who  never  have 
emissions? — It  is  no  doubt  true  that  all  normal 
young  men  who  are  living  pure  lives  have  an  oc¬ 
casional  emission.  In  a  few  young  men  it  may 
occur  during  urination  and  therefore  be  unobserv¬ 
ed,  A  young  man  who  wilfully  dissipates  his 
energy  as  fast  as  it  is  formed,  by  means  of  mas¬ 
turbation  or  prostitution,  may  not  have  emissions. 
But,  let  'him  stop  his  bad  habits  and  he  will  ex¬ 
perience  them. 

7.  How  can  one  prevent  too  frequent  emis¬ 
sions? — Such  dietetic  measures  as  eating  non- 
stimulating  foods,  discontinuing  the  use  of  tobac¬ 
co  and  alcoholic  drinks,  and  such  hygienic  meas¬ 
ures  as  emptying  the  bowels  and  bladder  just  'be¬ 
fore  retiring,  sleeping  on  the  side,  and  preventing 
constipation,  will  aid  in  the  control  of  emissions. 
But  the  most  important  measure  to  be  used  is  that 
of  mental  control.  The  cure  in  all  cases  will  be 


PERFECT  manhood. 


m 


gradual  and  the  time  required  will  depend  on  the 
condition  of  the  victim  and1  his  determination  to 
conquer  the  habit. 

8.  Can  seminal  weakness  or  lost  manhood  be 
cured  by  the  use  of  medicine  of  any  kind? — The 
idea  that  a  young  man  suffering  from  this  trouble, 
by  opening  his  mouth  and  swallowing  pills  or 
drinking  medicines,  can  cure  himself  is  an  abso¬ 
lute  false  hope.  No  intelligent,  'conscientious  doc¬ 
tor  will  advise  the  use  of  drugs  for  seminal  weak¬ 
ness.  The  only  safe,  sane  and  sound  prescription 
that  can  be  given  one  in  this  condition  is  a  strict 
continent  life,  aided  by  pure  thinking,  proper 
diet,  and  hygiene. 

9.  When  a  young  man  has  become  infected 
with  venereal  disease,  should  he  treat  himself  with 
a  patent  remedy  purchased  in  a  drug  store  or  send 
away  for  a  remedy? — A  young  man’s  money, 
health  and  life  are  too  valuable  to  be  jeopardized 
by  resorting  to  either  method.  Most  of  these 
drug  store  remedies  posted  in  igentlemen’s  closets 
guarantee  to  produce  a  cure  in  one  to  five  days 
and  the  disease  will  never  return.  There  should 
be  a  law  prohibiting  the  sale  of  such  drugs.  They 
are  an  encouragement  to  uninformed  men  to  visit 
the  prostitute.  When  the  young  man  finds  that 
the  patent  remedy  has  failed  to  cure  him,  he  is 
then  perhaps  in  a  chronic  state  of  infection.  Now 
the  best  medical  talent  may  fail  to  give  him  a 
permanent  cure. 


124 


PEiRiFEICT  MANHOOD. 


10.  What  should  one  i do  who  discovers  that  he 
has  varicocele?— The  approach  of  this  disease  is 
first  noticed  iby  a  dilation  of  the  veins  of  the  epi¬ 
didymis  of  the  left  testicle.  A  moderate  dilation 
disappears  causing  no  serious  results.  When  the 
dilated  veins  become  large  and  feel  like  a  handfull 
of  tangled  earth  worms, this  is  known  as  varicocele. 
This  produces  a  “dragging”  sensation.  If  not 
properly  treated,  it  will  result  in  the  partial  wast¬ 
ing  away  of  the  left  testicle.  When  varicocele  af¬ 
fects  both  testicles  the  patient  may  become  sterile. 
One  having  this  disease  should  suspend  his  testi¬ 
cles  in  a  suspensory  bandage.  This  can  Ibe  secured 
at  a  drug  store  or  surgical  instrument  house.  If 
he  will  now  follow  the  direction  given  elsewhere 
for  seminal  weakness,  he  may  be  able  to  cure  him¬ 
self.  If  he  fails,  he  should  consult  a  competent 
home  physician. 

11.  Should  a  young  man  marry  who  has  for  a 
number  of  years  practiced  masturbation? — ‘It  is 
always  best  for  a  young  man  who  has  practiced 
the  secret  vice  for  five,  ten  or  fifteen  years  to  quit 
the  habit  and  live  a  continent  life  for  one  or 
more  years.  During  this  time  he  becomes  normal 
in  his  sexual  life  and  demands.  If  he  has  prac¬ 
ticed  the  habit  only  in  a  very  limited  way  so  that 
he  is  not  suffering  from  any  bad  consequences, 
postponement  of  marriage  is  not  necessary. 

12.  How  frequent  should  sexual  relations  tahe 
place  in  the  married  life ? — Man  is  not  normal  in 


«  r 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


125 


his  sexual  nature.  He  has  received  an  unnatural 
sexual  heredity.  Few  men  have  received  a  natur¬ 
al  education  in  matters  of  sex.  As  a  consequence 
few  are  in  a  condition  to  receive  and1  practice  an 
ideal  married  life. 

We  have  seen  that  continence  among  the  males 
of  the  lower  animals  during  adolescence  and  ges¬ 
tation  of  the  female  is  in  harmony  with  perfect 
health,  development  and  virility  No  one  ques¬ 
tions  this  being  the  ideal  sex  life  of  the  male  ani¬ 
mal.  We  reason  by  analogy  that  a  similar  self- 
restraint  on  the  part  of  man  is  perfectly  natural. 
If  a  young  man  has  lived  a  perfectly  continent 
life  before  marriage,  he  should  encounter  no  seri¬ 
ous  difficulty  in  living  an  ideal  married  life.  The 
ideal  married  life  would  be  one  or  two  intercourses 
a  month,  before  and  after  the  menstrual  periods, 
until  the  wife  becomes  pregnant.  When  this  oc¬ 
curs,  the  sexual  act  should  cease  during  the  nine 
months  of  gestation  and  the  two  months  follow¬ 
ing.  This  is  the  ideal  that  nature  would  hold 
out  to  man.  To  attain  this  ideal  will  require  some 
sacrifice  of  selfish  pleasure,  but  it  will  bring  com¬ 
pensation.  All  men  will  not  be  willing  to  make 
the  sacrifice,  no  matter  what  the  compensation. 
Maternity  on  the  part  of  the  woman  is  an  ex¬ 
haustive  process.  It  taxes  every  resource  of  her 
being  to  meet  the  demands  of  her  forming  child. 
The  husband  owes  it  to  his  wife  and  child  not  to 
selfishly  deprive  them  of  that  vitality  so  necessary 


126 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


to  both  at  this  staige.  Where  this  self-control  is 
not  practiced,  the  wife,  by  sustaining  a  mere 
(mechanical  relation  to  the  act,  may  lessen  the 
injurious  effects  on  herself  and  child. 

13.  What  bad  results  may  follow  intercourse 
during  pregnancy  ? — The  nervous  drain  on  the 
mother  and  the  transmission  of  lustful  tendencies 
to  the  child  are  the  greatest  injuries  done.  Some¬ 
times,  though  rarely,  it  results  in  a  miscarriage. 

14.  Should  married  people  ever  use  methods  to 
prevent  conception  f — They  should  never  use  un¬ 
natural,  injurious  or  criminal  methods.  Some 
married  people  are  sterile,  others  are  in  a  condi¬ 
tion  where  they  are  perfectly  justifiable  in  not 
having  children  for  a  few  years,  or  even  in  never 
having  children.  Where  one  or  both  are  in  a 
condition  that  makes  it  proper  for  them  to  remain 
childless  or  not  to  have  children  for  a  period, 
self-restraint  should  be  practiced.  If  before  mar¬ 
riage  they  could  both  live  continent  lives  there  is 
no  reason  why  they  should  not  in  the  married  life. 
Another  method,  most  nearly  approaching  the 
ideal,  would  be  for  these  relations1  to  take  place 
ten  days  before  or  after  the  menstrual  periods. 
Even  when  this  rule  is  closely  adhered  to,  concep¬ 
tion  sometimes  occurs.  It  is  claimed  by  some  au¬ 
thorities  that  children  conceived  midway  between 
the  menstrual  periods  are  not  as  strong  and 
healthy  as  those  conceived  just  before  or  after 
the  period.  I  would  not  commit  myself  to  this 
view. 


iFEOKjFBOT  manhood. 


127 


15.  What  had  effects  follow ■  imperfect  inter¬ 
course. — When  passion  is  aroused  in  the  male  and 
female,  the  'blood  rushes  into  the  .arteries  'and  cap¬ 
illaries  of  the  genital  organs,  and  they  become  in¬ 
flamed  and  turpid.  Passion  should  never  be  en¬ 
couraged,  except  where  perfect  intercourse  is  to 
take  place  between  loving  husband  and  wife.  In 
perfect  mating,  the  sexual  cavities  of  the  man  are 
all  perfectly  relieved  of  the  accumulated  semen  and 
this  oils  and  relieves  the  inflamed  parts  of  the 
wife.  'In  imperfect  intercourse  neither  are  per¬ 
fectly  satisfied.  Due  to  this  imperfect  mating, 
passion  will  soon  return.  The  congested  and  im¬ 
pure  blood  will  return  to  all  parts  of  the  body  to 
work  injury.  A  little  thinking  will  make  it  clear 
to  any  one  why  imperfect  mating  has  the  same 
effects  as  masturbation.  Why  this  imperfect 
mating?  It  is  an  effort  to  severely  regulate  the 
size  of  the  family”  and  “have  light  housekeeping.” 
“Be  not  deceived,  God  is  not  mocked.”  “Whatso¬ 
ever  appliances  or  methods  one  may  use  to  pre¬ 
vent  conception,  of  the  flesh  he  will  reap  corrup¬ 
tion.” 

16.  What  are  some  of  the  bad  effects  of  mari¬ 
tal  excess? — -Nearly  all  of  the  passion  that  burns 
in  the  bosom  of  the  average  man  is  not  natural, 
but  has  been  acquired  through  the  perverted  use 
of  the  mind  and  the  sexual  organs.  Where  men 
and  women  have  both  lived  continent  lives,  their 
sexual  desire  is  about  equal.  Many  men  have  cul- 


128 


FEKjFEIOT  'MJAKHOiOD. 


tivated  impure  thoughts  and  lived!  incontinent 
lives.  The  result  is  that  men  are  more  sensual 
than  women.  When  a  sensual  man  marries  a  wo¬ 
man  who  has  been  pure  in  mind,  conversation  and 
sexual  nature,  he  will  soon  learn  that  his  desire 
for  sexual  relations  with  his  wife  is  many  times 
greater  than  hers;  .and  if  she  yields  to  his  un¬ 
natural  demands,  she  will  soon  break  down  in 
health.  Many  young  and  middle-aged  married 
women  who  suffer  from  nervous  debility  and  gen¬ 
eral  female  weakness,  can  trace  much  of  their 
trouble  to  excess  in  the  marriage  act.  If  the  bloom 
of  health  has  faded  from  the  wife’s  cheek;  if  the 
elastic  step  is  gone;  if  she  has  lost  the  cheerful¬ 
ness  of  a  woman’s  life;  if  former  pleasant  duties 
have  become  irksome;  if  she  complains  of  being 
nervous  and  weak;  perhaps  you  can  trace  it  to 
your  too  frequent  demands. 

After  giving  this  lecture  in  a  Western  town, 
a  ranchman  said  to  me,  “If  I  could  call  back  fif¬ 
teen  years  of  my  life  and  possess  the  information 
I  have  gained  from  your  lecture,  I  would  be  will¬ 
ing  to  give  you  $20,000,  and  start  life  over  a  poor¬ 
er  but  wiser  man.”  He  then  related  to  me  how 
he  had  in  six  brief  years  wrecked  his  wife’s  health, 
which  resulted  in  her  early  death. 

In  a  Kentucky  town,  while  discussing  this  feat¬ 
ure  of  my  lecture  with  a  leading  physician,  he 
called  my  attention  to  a  man  passing  in  front  of 
his  office  and  said,  ^Bro.  S.,  that  man  has  killed 
five  wives  by  his  sexual  excesses.” 


PERFECT  MlAjNiHOOlD. 


129 


if  you  appreciate  perfect  womanhood;  if  you 
appreciate  the  influence  of  perfect  womanhood 
upon  your  offspring;  if  you,  as  a  man,  wish  to 
retain  a  robust  body  and  manly  strength,  a  heal¬ 
thy,  vigorous  mind,  a  cheerful  and  happy  dispo¬ 
sition,  you  must  keep  your  passion  in  subjection. 
Intelligent  moderation  in  the  married  life  will 
pay  you  a  hundredfold. 

17.  Is  it  a  crime  to  produce  an  abortion? — 
When,  to  save  the  mother’s  life,  which  sometimes 
but  rarely  occurs,  abortion  is  not  a  crime.  But 
the  deliberate  and  willful  destruction  of  unborn 
life,  is  as  truly  murder,  as  would  be  the  killing  of 
a  child  after  natural  birth.  lSome  claim  that 
there  is  no  life  until  after  the  mother  feels  the 
movements  of  the  child  in  her  body.  This  does 
not  indicate  that  the  child  has  just  received  life 
or  any  'Special  enduement  of  life.  It  only  means 
that  the  child  has  become  strong1  enough  to  make 
its  movements  felt  by  the  mother.  The  initial  of 
an  independent  humian  life  takes  place  at  concep¬ 
tion.  If  murder  is  the  destruction  of  human  life, 
it  follows  that  willful  abortion  produced  to  get  rid 
of  an  unwelcome  child  is  murder.  Prenatal  mur¬ 
der  is  the  monster  crime  of  Christendom.  This 
crime  is  committed  in  homes  of  wealth,  culture 
and  among  members  of  the  church  as  well  as 
among  the  classes  below  them.  Many  times  the 
wife  alone  is  responsible,  sometimes  the  father 
and  the  M.  D.  abortionist  share  with  her  the  fear- 


130 


PERiHElCT  MANHOOD. 


ful  guilt.  Tire  whole  trouble  grows  out  of  a  lack 
of  proper  self-restraint  in  the  married  life. 

18.  Can  gonorrhea  and  syphilis  he  permanently 
cured? — If  gonorrhea  is  promptly  and  properly 
treated,  it  can  in  many  cases  be  cured  without 
danger  of  return  or  any  serious  effects  being 
transmitted  to  the  wife  or  child.  It  is  also  a  fact 
that  in  many  cases  of  gonorrhea,  even  when  prop¬ 
erly  treated,  that  there  is  a  strong  tendency  to 
run  into  chronic  conditions.  \Wihen  the  disease 
has  been  neglected  or  poorly  treated,  or  when  a 
case  by  its  own  persistency  runs  into  a  chronic 
state,  many  such  cases  are  never  cured  so  that 
they  may  not  return  in  some  form.  Weakened 
gonorrheal  germs  have  been  known  to  remain  in  a 
quiescent  condition  in  the  genital  ducts  for  years. 

In  recent  years  many  prominent  physicians 
have  changed  their  views  regarding  venereal  dis¬ 
eases.  They  are  now  known  to  be  more  insidious 
and  persistent  than  was  formerly  thought.  Some 
physicians  claim  that  syphilis  may  sometimes  be 
cured1;  but  many  eminent  physicians  claim  that 
it  is  quite  probable  that  when  one  has  once  been 
infected  with  syphilis  that  his  body  is  never  en¬ 
tirely  free  from  the  disease  germs.  Some  authori¬ 
ties  claim  that  the  syphilitic  germ  has  been  found 
in  the  brain  twenty  years  after  the  disease  was 
contracted. 

19.  Is  there  a  safe  method  by  which  small  or¬ 
gans,  due  to  the  secret  sin ,  may  be  enlarged ? — 


PiElEIPEIOT  MIA^HiOOiD. 


131 


There  are  some  methods  advertised  by-  “Quacks” 
and  certain  firms,  but  most  of  them  are  unreliable 
or  injurious.  The  vacuum  method  is  perhaps 
the  most  satisfactory.  This  consists  of  an  ap¬ 
pliance  that  removes  the  external  pressure  from 
the  organ  and  allows  the  blood  to  rush  into  the 
capillaries.  This  practice  must  be  kept  up  for  a 
considerable  timle  to  be  effective.  While  this  is 
the  most  natural  method,  I  would  not,  in  any 
case,  advise  the  use  of  it.  Any  method  used  tends 
to  call  the  attention  to  the  organs  and  this  leads 
to  continual  sexual  weakness.  A  restored  virility 
is  of  far  more  importance  than  the  size  of  the  or¬ 
gan.  Because  this  organ  varies  in  size,  many  men 
who  have  practiced  the  secret  vice  to  some  extent, 
fear  that  this  organ  has  become  in  a  measure 
atrophied. 

20.  If  cohabitation  is  not  a  physical  and  sexual 
necessity,  or  conducive  to  health,  why  do  married 
people  live  longer  and  have  better  health  than 
those  who  remain  single  ? 

As  a  rule  married  people  are  more  temperate  in 
their  sexual  lives  than  are  the  single.  But  this 
does  not  prove  that  sexual  gratification  is  ever 
conducive  to  health  and  a  long  life.  All  nature 
contradicts  such  a  conclusion.  The  embodiment  of 
life  in  seed  is  a  universal  sacrifice.  Many  flow¬ 
ering  plants  whither,  fade  and  die  as  soon  as  they 
embody  life  in  their  seed.  If  young  fruit  trees 
bear  fruit  too  early  in  life,  they  are  stunted  in 


132 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


their  growth  and  die  prematurely-  There  is  a 
suspension  of  growth  in  all  of  the  vegetable  king¬ 
dom  as  soon  as  the  function  of  reproduction  is 
completed.  Among  the  lowest  forms  of  animal 
life,  as  soon  as  the  eggs  are  fertilized,  they  die. 
Among  all  of  the  higher  animals,  including  man, 
there  is  abundant  evidence  of  some  bodily  depres¬ 
sion  and  nervous  exhaustion  after  each  act  of  co¬ 
habitation,  showing  the  act  to  be  one  of  sacrifice. 
The  arrested  growth,  susceptibility  to  disease  and 
premature  decay  among  plants,  trees  and  animals, 
when  premature  or  over  reproduction  occurs,  are 
significant  illustrations  of  the  effects  of  youthful 
dissipation  of  the  sex  principal  and  marital  ex¬ 
cesses. 

All  nature  teaches  that  the  normal  expression 
of  sex  is  the  unselfish  act  of  embodying  life  in  a 
new  being  and  means  sacrifice.  The  story  of  the 
cross  is  typical  of  all  nature.  'Christ  sacrificed  his 
life  that  humanity  might  have  redemptive  life 
through  a  process  of  spiritual  reproduction,  regen¬ 
eration. 

Through  centuries  of  bad  heredity,  a  misunder¬ 
standing  of  the  nature  and1  true  functions  of  sex 
and  years  of  violation  of  sex  laws  have  combined 
to  give  men  an  abnormal  sex  nature.  It  has  re¬ 
mained  for  the  people  of  this  century  to  discover 
and  apply  the  laws  of  heredity,  to  learn  the  true 
nature  and  function  of  sex  and  restore  a  normal 
sex  nature.  The  results  of  centuries  cannot  be 


PlERlFOElOT  MANHOOD. 


133 


corrected  in  one  generation.  Few  -men  will  be 
able  to  reach  the  ideal  life,  but  it  is  the  privilege 
of  every  man  to  struggle  toward  the  ideal. 

For  young  people  to  regard  sexual  gratification 
as  the  one  reason  for  marriage  is  positively  de¬ 
grading  and  shows  that  our  ideas  of  marriage 
should  be  corrected.  There  are  many  reasons  why 
the  married  life  is  the  ideal  life.  Man  is  a  social 
being.  He  needs  a  companion.  He  is  not  com¬ 
plete  in  himself.  He  represents  only  one-half  of 
a  complete  being.  He  is  never  quite  satisfied  until 
he  finds  the  other  half,  the  compliment  of  himself. 
A  demand  for  companionship  is  found  in  the  very 
physical,  mental  and  moral  natures  of  man  and 
woman.  Their  constant  association,  their  mu¬ 
tual  home  interests  and1  sacrifice  for  their  children 
are  very  conducive  to  health,  happiness  and  a 
long  life. 

OOHOLHSIOIN*.* 

My  subject  is  before  you.  While  you  may 
differ  with  me  in  some  minor  particulars,  we  are 
agreed  that  the  violation  of  the  laws  of  sex  is 
the  most  prolific  source  of  wrecked  manhood,  and 
that  a  pure  life  is  the  only  possible  road  to  per¬ 
fect  manhood.  I  have  tried  to  lead  you  to  loathe 
and  abhor  all  forms  of  sexual  impurity  and  to 
form  a  purpose  as  lasting  as  life  and  as  strong 
as  death,  that  you  will  never  again  violate  the 
laws  of  sexual  purity.  The  attainment  and  main- 


134 


PERFECT  MIANHOOD. 


tainment  of  perfect  manhood' ;  the  recovery  of 
wrecked  manhood;  the  transmission  of  potential 
perfect  manhood!  to  your  offspring;  absolutely  de¬ 
pends  upon  your  faithfulness  to  the  principles  of 
sexual  purity  enunciated  in  this  hook.  If  the 
truths  presented  in  this  book  keep  one  boy  out 
of  the  pit  of  sensuality,  or  if  they  lead  one  poor 
faltering  man  to  form!  an  undying  purpose  to 
become  pure,  or  if  just  one  man  finds  help, 
strength  and  life  through  faith  in  Christ,  the  au¬ 
thor  is  repaid  a  thousandfold.  It  is  a  higher  hon¬ 
or  to  wear  a  crown  of  perfect  manhood,  than  to 
wear  the  crown  of  an  angel, 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


135 


Since  revising  Perfect  Manhood  one  year  ago;  I 
have  lectured  to  young  men  in  more  than  one  hun¬ 
dred  colleges  and  universities,  devoting  several 
hours  each  day  to  personal  interviews  and  an  in¬ 
creasing  confidential  correspondence  with  young 
men  have  suggested  the  following  questions  and 
answers,  not  fully  covered  in  other  parts  of  the 
book. 

21.  What  effect  has  keeping  company  with 
young  women  upon  a  young  mans  sex  problems? 

We  have  a  social  nature.  It  should  be  normally 
developed.  The  sex  nature  and  the  social  nature 
are  vitally  related.  Improper  social  relations  pro¬ 
duce  bad  results  in  the  sex  nature  and  vice  versa. 

If  a  young  man  would  develop  an  ideal  social 
nature  he  should  to  a  reasonable  extent,  associate 
with  modest,  discreet  and  chaste  young  women. 
This  is  natural  and  in  every  way  helpful.  If  a 
young  man  who  has  sexual  weakness,  due  to 
youthful  indiscretions,  purposes  reform  and  de¬ 
sires  to  regain  his  manhood,  he  will  find  as¬ 
sociation  with  young  women  of  the  above  type  to 
be  very  helpful.  The  normal  young  man,  as  well 
as  the  sexually  weak,  should  studiously  avoid  as¬ 
sociation  with  girls  whose  actions,  conversation  or 
dress  suggest  impure  thought. 

22. '  What  is  the  relation  of  “spooning”  to  a 
young  man's  sex  problems? 

A  single  example  of  “spooning”  will  answer 
this  question.  January  19,  1912,  a  college  young 


136 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


man  in  a  personal  interview,  explained  that  since 
April  14th  he  had  been  completely  impotent  and 
wanted  to  know  of  me  if  there  was  any  hope  for 
him  to  have  his  manhood  restored.  I  assured 
him  that  there  was.  He  then  asked  me  what  he 
must  do.  My  reply  was,  "That  depends  upon  what 
you  have  been  doing.”  I  found  that  he  had  been 
guilty  of  the  secret  vice  and  prostitution  to  only 
a  limited  degree.  'Convinced  that  these  habit3 
would  not  explain  his  condition,  I  said  to  him, 
"The  trouble  is  in  your  mind.  You  have  in  some 
way  aroused  and  maintained  a  high  state  of  sex¬ 
ual  excitement  for  hours  at  the  time  and  over  a 
period  of  months  or  years.  'Can  you  explain?” 
He  confessed  that  for  nearly  two  years  he  had 
spent  two  to  three  hours,  two  or  three  times  a  week, 
in  company  with  a  girl  friend  who  permitted  him 
to  hold  her  hands,  play  with  her  hair,  pat  her 
cheeks  and  chin,  kiss,  caress  and  even  fondle  her 
breasts,  but  absolutely  refused  to  permit  further 
advances.  Then  I  explained  to  him  how  this  in¬ 
tense  sexual  excitement  had  brought  on  varicocele, 
loss  of  sexual  power  and  spermatorrhea. 

Spooning  is  a  growing  evil.  It  is  more  injurious 
than  the  secret  sin.  Our  suggestive  post  cards, 
pictures  on  billboards,  novels  and  serial  stories, 
and  the  moving  pictures  in  five  and  ten  cent  shows 
are  all  giving  young  people  the  idea  that  spooning 
is  natural  and  expected  as  a  part  of  the  entertain¬ 
ment  when  a  young  man  calls  to  see  his  best  girl. 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


137 


The  girl  who  permits  spooning  will  lose  many 
of  her  personal  physical  charms.  The  eyes  that 
once  sparkled  with  intelligence  and  glowed  with 
hasten,  become  lusterless,  stupid  and  sunken;  the 
cheeks  once  rosy  and  plump  become  pale  and 
poor;  the  handshake  that  was  once  warm  and  full 
of  life,  is  now  cold  and  lifeless.  Health  is  gone. 
She  ends  her  days  in  heart  trouble,  wrecked  nerves 
or  consumption. 

23.  Are  there  reliable  tests  of  the  virginity  of 
a  girl? 

The  only  test  a  man  has  a  right  to  make  before 
or  after  marriage  is  a  modest  demeanor,  absence 
of  familiarity,  a  pure  form  of  mind  and  an  inno¬ 
cent  expression  in  the  face  and  look  of  the  eye. 
The  physical  presence  of  the  hymen,  or  a  flow  of 
blood  at  the  consummation  of  marriage,  should 
not  be  made  a  test  of  a  young  wife’s  virginity.  In 
some  cases  the  hymen  is  absent  from  birth,  and 
in  others  only  partially  represented.  Where  girls 
may  have  had  lucorrhea  the  parts  are  relaxed  and 
no  blood  occurs.  In  stout  blonds  the  presence  of 
blood  is  the  exception  and  not  the  rule. 

24.  What  are  the  causes  of  varicocele? 

The  secret  sin  and  sexual  excitement  caused  by 
lascivious  thinking  are  the  principal  causes.  Oc¬ 
casionally  it  results  from  a  bruise  or  the  “falling 
of  the  mumps.”  I  have  found  a  few  men  who 
were  never  impure  with  a  woman  and  who  were 


138 


PEBFECT  MANHOOD. 


never  addicted  to  the  secret  sin  and  yet  they  had 
varicocele.  They  had  at  frequent  intervals 
aroused  and  maintained  an  intense  state  of  sexual 
excitement  and  pleasure  through  the  mind.  This 
was  mental  masturbation.  The  most  common  and 
the  most  injurious  method  of  violating  the  laws  of 
sex. 

25.  Does  varicocele  caused  by  the  “falling  of 
mumps”  lead  to  sterility? 

It  does  not.  If  neglected^  varicocele  however 
caused,  may  lead  slowly  to  sexual  weakness  und 
this  finally  to  temporary  sterility,  or  inability  to 
become  a  father. 

26.  When  a  testicle  has  become  reduced  in  size 
can  it  be  restored  to  normal  size? 

If  in  the  earliest  stages  of  varicocele,  before  the 
gland  has  become  much  reduced,  advice  found 
elsewhere  in  this  book  is  followed,  the  gland  may 
become  normal  in  size.  When  the  gland  has  be¬ 
come  much  reduced  in  size  it  will  not  be  possible 
to  fully  restore  it. 

27.  Should  a  young  man  be  circumcised  after 
he  is  grown? 

If  the  prepuce  passes  back  freely  and  there  is  no 
irritation  or  soreness,  I  would  not  advise  circum¬ 
cision.  In  extreme  cases  of  the  secret  sin  circum¬ 
cision  -would  help  in  breaking  off  from  the  habit. 

28.  What  percent  of  children  should  be  circum¬ 
cised  and  when  ? 

The  best  physicians  are  not  agreed  on  this. 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


139 


Many  would  say  one-fourth  to  one-third.  It  is 
best  to  do  this  when  the  boy  is  only  a  few  days  or 
weeks  old. 

29.  Is  there  some  method  of  dilating  the  pre¬ 
puce  and  thus  avoiding  the  necessity  for  circum¬ 
cision  ? 

Yes.  In  many  cases  doctors  are  able  to  break 
up  the  adhesions  and  dilate  the  prepuce  as  a  sub¬ 
stitute  for  circumcision. 

In  this  matter  most  parents  neglect  their  boys. 
When  the  prepuce  is  not  passed  back  every  few 
days  and  the  secretions  removed  an  adhesion 
takes  place  between  the  prepuce  and  the  head  of 
the  penis.  A  large  number  of  boys  labor  for  years, 
from  the  age  of  six  to  twelve  trying  to  pass  the 
prepuce  back.  They  haven’t  the  right  motive  in 
doing  this.  It  is  impossible  for  them  to  handle 
this  organ  in  this  way,  several  times  a  day  for 
months  or  years  without  discovering  the  secret  sin. 
In  this  way  he  dilates  the  prepuce  and  breaks  up 
the  adhesions.  It  is  strange  that  this  experience 
among  boys  has  not  suggested  to  parents  the  fol¬ 
lowing  natural  and  practical  method  of  solving 
this  problem. 

Where  the  prepuce  passes  back  naturally  in 
babyhood,  the  mother  should  occasionally  take  a 
damp  cloth  and  remove  the  secretion.  When  the 
boy  is  two  years  old  the  mother  should  have  the 
boy  trained  to  do  this  every  two  or  three  days. 

Where  the  prepuce  is  long  and  the  opening 


140 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


small,  if  the  mother,  every  time  she  cares  for  the 
little  fellow’s  body,  would  endeavor  to  pull  the 
prepuce  back,  by  the  time  the  boy  is  one  year  old, 
nine  times  out  of  ten  the  problem  would  be  solved. 
This  should  be  done  so  gradually  and  carefully  as 
not  to  produce  soreness.  If  this  is  done  before  the 
boy  is  three  years  old  sex-consciousness  and  pas¬ 
sion  need  not  be  awakened. 

30.  How  long  will  it  take  for  a  young  man  to 
recover  from  the  effects  of  masturbation ? 

There  are  so  many  things  to  be  considered  in 
each  individual  case  that  this  question  cannot  be 
answered  in  other  than  the  most  general  terms. 
The  age  when  the  habit  was  commenced,  the  age 
when  the  habit  was  quit,  the  frequency  and  the 
number  of  years  of  indulgence,  the  inherited  con¬ 
stitution,  the  extent  of  lascivious  thinking  and  the 
use  or  non-use  of  coffee,  tea,  tobacco  and  alcoholic 
drinks,  all  play  a  part  in  the  correct  answer  to 
the  question.  I  recall  one  young  man  of  a  frail 
constitution  and  a  nervous  temperament,  who  had 
practiced  the  vice  two  to  four  times  a  week  and 
for  four  years.  He  had  nearly  all  of  the  complica¬ 
tions  resulting  from  a  greater  excess  and  a  much 
longer  period  of  indulgence.  He  used  coffee,  to¬ 
bacco  and  had  been  addicted  to  much  impure 
thinking.  His  will-power  was  weak.  He  had  a 
long  hard  struggle  in  breaking  the  habit.  It  re¬ 
quired  four  years  for  him  to  recover.  Here  is  a 
remarkable  example.  One  of  my  correspondents, 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


141 


28  years  old,  began  the  habit  at  the  age  of  eight 
and  practiced  the  habit  two  and  three  times  a  day 
for  twenty  years.  He  had  very  few  of  the  trou¬ 
bles  following  the  habit  of  masturbation.  Satis¬ 
factory  recovery  took  place  in  a  year’s  time.  He 
had  everything  to  his  advantage.  He  had  inherit¬ 
ed  an  ideal  constitution  and  moral  tendencies.  He 
had  never  used  coffee,  tea,  tobacco  or  alcoholic 
drinks.  He  had  never  allowed  himself  to  indulge 
in  obscene  language,  to  read  immoral  books,  to  as¬ 
sociate  with  bad  company  or  to  have  improper 
thoughts  about  women.  He  had  cultivated  studi¬ 
ous  and  industrious  habits,  and  tried  hard  to  live 

■■i 

a  Christian  life.  These  ideal  conditions  had  largely 
counteracted  the  injurious  effects  of  the  secret  sin 
and  made  recovery  possible  in  the  brief  period  of 
one  year.  I  regard  this  as  the  most  remarkable 
case  that  I  have  ever  had  under  my  advisement. 

Where  one  has  practiced  the  secret  sin  from  four 
to  ten  or  more  years  and  has  the  symptoms  of 
greatly  injured  or  lost  manhood,  it  will  require 
from  one  to  four  years  for  nature  to  restore  his 
manly  powers.  Nature  cannot  counteract  the  loss 
of  vitality  and  restore  years  of  waste  in  a  few 
days  or  weeks  of  time.  The  victim  of  this  habit 
for  years  must  be  patient  with  nature.  Years  of 
practice  has  established  a  stream  of  waste  from  his 
body.  In  most  cases  it  will  require  six  months  to 
one  year  for  nature  to  check  this  waste.  Until 
this  is  done,  the  patient  cannot  hope  to  be  con- 


142 


PERFECT  MANHOOD. 


scious  of  the  delightful  thrill  of  manhood  being 
restored.  Just  here,  I  find  many  of  my  friends 
become  discouraged.  Failing  to  realize  results  in 
a  few  weeks,  they  are  tempted  to  feel  that  the  ad¬ 
vice  found  in  this  book  will  not  bring  relief  when 
followed,  or  that  their  case  is  a  helpless  one.  They 
need  to  be  patient  with  nature^  in  her  slow  bur 
sure  method  of  producing  real  results. 


PERFECT  MAIN  HOOD. 


THE  SHANNON  COURSE  OF  LECTURES. 


Four  lectures  on  heredity — “Sour  Grapes.” 

Four  lectures  to  men — “Knights  of  the  Twen¬ 
tieth  Century.” 

Three  lectures  to  boys — “Coming  Knight.” 

“Teaching  the  Truth,  When,  What  and  How.” 

“The  'Girl  and  Her  Mother.” 

“Present  Day  Problems.”  Two  lectures. 

“•Civic  Righteousness.” 

“Temperance  Lectures.” 

The  author  devotes  all  of  his  time  to  lecturing, 
often  three  and  four  times  a  day  and  from  two 
to  four  days  in  towns  and  cities.  His  terms  are 
within  the  reach  of  all. 

Y.  M.  C.  A’s.,  W.  -0.  T.  TPs.,  Woman’s  Clubs, 
Colleges,  Ministerial  Associations  and  others  de¬ 
siring  terms  and  dates  may  address, 

T.  W.  SHANNON-, 

.  Fredericktown,  Mo. 


100,000  of  These  Books  Each  Year. 

Are  you  interested  in  the  protection  of  girlhood 
and  boyhood,  the  virtue  of  womanhood  and  the 
purity  of  manhood?  If  so  here  is  a  chance  to  do 
something  worth  while.  Several  W.  C.  T.  U’s  have 
ordered  ioo.  “How  to  Tell  the  Story  olf  Life.” 
The  greatest  evangelist  of  today  orders  this  book 
.by  the  500.  Another  sold  10,000  Perfect  Man¬ 
hood.  Still  another  sold  4,150  books  in  five  meet¬ 
ings.  Several  men  have  given  Perfect  Man¬ 
hood  to  all  their  employes.  You  can  share  in  this 
work  of  human  progress  in  one  of  the  following 
ways: 

1.  Buy  a  number  of  these  books  and  establish  a 
circulating  library  in  your  community.  If  you  have 
not  the  time  to  do  this  work,  some  individual  or 
society  can. 

2.  Give  a  number  to  your  clerks,  employes,  the 
poor,  pastors  and  friends. 

3.  By  taking  the  agency  for  these  books  and 
selling  them. 

Special  discount  will  be  given  on  all  books  or¬ 
dered  for  any  of  these  purposes.  All  books  sent 
prepaid  at  prices  quoted. 

Address  all  orders 

T.  W.  SHANNON  PUBLISHING  CO., 

21 1  W.  Walnut  St.,  Louisville  Ky. 


LX*' 


